


A Nightmare in Heaven

by Ttiiggeerr



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Falling In Love, Friendship, Good Draco Malfoy, Idiots in Love, Kindness, Love, M/M, Supportive Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:15:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ttiiggeerr/pseuds/Ttiiggeerr
Summary: Harry doesn't know that friends can be abusers. In fact, he doesn't even realize he's being abused.Draco doesn't really care one way or another about Harry. He seems fine enough when they study for ancient runes with Hermione. It was Ron that always kicked the dust up. And when he starts to notice small tell-tale signs, he realizes he has to tread carefully around Harry. Confronting him with the abuse would only make him shrink back into it further, so constant support and kindness was the way to go.But what if supporting Harry led to more?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 18
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

“No, I can’t be. I’m just Harry.”

“Well, you better believe it young man. I’ve been awaiting your owl for several weeks now, we’d best be off. You’ve got some shopping to do and if my memory serves correctly, you won’t be getting it done with these two lay-abouts. Come along now.” The woman named Professor McGonagall reached out and took his hand, leading him towards the door. Since the only complaint he heard from his aunt and uncle were sputters of indignation at being called lay-abouts, he went with her. Surely wherever she was taking him was a happier place than with the Dursley family.

“No time for dawdling. Now don’t let go of my hand and take a deep breath.” He did and was suddenly met with a wholly uncomfortable squeezing sensation and fought off the urge to be sick when it ended. “Rather unpleasant your first few times, but you’ll get used to it. Now come along, we haven’t got all day. We’ve a tight schedule Mr. Potter, the train leaves in only two hours!” He let himself be tugged and lead around a magical street with signs everywhere claiming the name to be Diagon Alley. Not having the faintest idea where they were in the country, he let himself gaze on all the magical things around him. Spells being cast without so much as a thought, items floating midair and changing colour to attract the attention of passerby, cauldrons stirring themselves with strange concoctions inside...he could hardly contain his excitement.

They went to a curious bank filled with slightly scary goblins and endured another sickening form of transport before Harry was blinded by the gold in his vault. Having been told his entire life he wasn’t worth anything, he only took a few pieces, but conceded easily enough when the professor tutted and filled a small pouch. 

“That ought to last you for your supplies and a few galleons as pocket money if there’s time left over and for the train.” He thanked her and they continued looking for school supplies. 

His favourite had been shopping for a wand. Mr. Olivander was a bit senile and sort of eclectic but Harry liked him. He had a calm sort of energy, even if his shop practically screamed chaos. He happily paid for his purchase and upon Professor McGonagall announcing that was the last item on the list, asked if there was a pet store that he could go to. She smiled and happily led him inside a shop while he decided if he wanted an owl, a cat or a toad. 

Deciding against a toad was easy enough but he couldn’t seem to make up his mind between a cat or owl when a quiet hoot and a white feather floated down in front of his face. He looked up and caught sight of a beautiful snowy owl with intelligent eyes. The bird launched from its perch and landed on his shoulder, gently tugging on his hair affectionately. 

He named her Hedwig. 

Their trip to Platform 9 ¾ was relatively uneventful. They walked to the end of the street and stepped into a fireplace before he was told to tuck his elbows and bend his knees slightly. He did so and after the world spun around insanely quickly with a flash of heat, he found himself looking at what had to be at least a hundred people mulling about around a crimson red steam engine. 

Parents were hugging their children and teenagers were running to each other, no doubt to catch up after the summer. Like Diagon Alley, spells were used in large quantities and made him grin. He almost couldn’t believe he was going to a magical school to learn how to do all sorts of things! But most of all, he was entirely too grateful to be leaving the Dursley house behind. He only hoped it wasn’t a dream.

“Now board the train and mind your manners. I’ll see you back at the school Mr. Potter.” He nodded and made his way to an empty compartment. 

He heaved his trunk in and settled down in his seat with a book to read for the ride. He was quite content with his little compartment for some time until the door crashed open and in flew a brightly redheaded boy that seemed about his age. 

“Blimey, you’d think everyone lost their bloody minds over the summer. I’m Ron, hope you don’t mind. Everywhere else is full.” Harry blinked and then shrugged, motioning for him to sit down on the opposite bench. 

“What a right state mum was in. Do you know about Harry Potter starting school this year? It’s all in the papers, of course.”

“I’m in the papers?” Ron’s eyes grew wide and his jaw practically dragged on the floor. The sound of the train whistling snapped him out of it, followed by a jerk as the train started to move. 

“You’re Harry Potter?” Harry nodded. “Blimey, that’s wicked.” 

Harry shrugged. “I’m not sure why. My parents were killed by a madman, why would that make me special?” Professor McGonagall had given him a brief synopsis of Voldemort while they were shopping, but he wasn’t entirely sure why it made him so famous. 

“Well, no one had ever survived the curse he used. Or just...they never survived him until you came along no matter how they died. If he wanted you dead, dead you would be. But you managed to survive. You’re a living oddity-no offence.”

“Non taken.” After all, he’d been told his entire life he was a freak. He didn’t need a stranger to tell him that, he already knew it. 

Ron did most of the talking on the way to Hogwarts. He talked incessantly about his family and it seemed to Harry like he resented a lot of his older brothers for always being better than him at everything. Harry, quite annoyed now that the redhead was doing nothing but complaining about his family, was about ready to tell him to stuff it and that he shouldn’t take them all for granted when a bushy haired girl opened the compartment door. 

“Have you two seen a toad?” 

Ron made a face and scoffed a negative. Harry, on the other hand, politely told her that they hadn’t but they’d gladly keep a watch out for one. She turned to Harry and smiled, thanking him. 

“Hermione, by the way. A boy named Neville is the one the toad belongs to. We’re just a car down if you find him.” She left just as quickly as she came, but Harry was relieved to know that not all witches and wizards were as negative as Ron.

When they got to Hogwarts, Ron told him about the different houses and although Ron made a point to downplay Slytherin as much as he could, Harry couldn’t help but think that they wouldn’t be that bad if Voldemort hadn’t been in Slytherin. 

Professor McGonagall met them all just inside the castle and cleared her throat. 

“Students, welcome! I am Professor McGonagall, transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress for Hogwarts. You will be led to the front of the Great Hall to be sorted into your house. The four houses are named as such: Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each one represents a different quality; kindness, courage, knowledge and ambition. Your house will become your family away from home in your time here. I expect you to treat one another with respect and kindness regardless of your house.” She led them inside to be sorted as the doors opened. 

Harry spent more time on the stool than anyone else. The oddly silent hall was eerie in how quiet everyone was, but that was all washed to the back of his mind when the Sorting Hat started talking to him about the pros and cons of Gryffindor versus Slytherin. 

The hat told him he’d do well in Slytherin and despite the fear coursing through him at the idea of being in the same house as Voldemort was, he conceded. 

‘If that’s what you think is best…’

‘Ahh, so you do have courage in you. Better be...GRYFFINDOR!”

The table full of red trimmed robes burst into applause and cheering as Harry went to sit down. Ron, unsurprisingly, was also sorted to Gryffindor and chose a seat a few down from Harry, which was just fine with him. 

About halfway through the feast, where Harry had a very hard time restraining himself from eating too much too quickly, someone mentioned Harry’s name and he was instantly swarmed. Ron quickly intervened, moving closer to Harry and telling everyone to back off a bit. Harry didn’t even remember the curse that made him famous, a fact that Ron brought up frequently until the ruckus died down. Harry threw a grateful glance at Ron and tucked into the pudding he selected. 

It was almost the end of the year when Harry snuck out of the common room and went to find Professor McGonagall. She didn’t check in on the Gryffindors as much as Harry had thought she would, but she made sure each and every one of them knew where her office was and that they could come to her any time day or night if they ever needed her. 

He knocked on her office door and eyed his trainers while his teeth worried his bottom lip. Doubt filled him. Adults had never listened to him before, so why should they start now?

The door opened and he looked up to see the professor dressed just as sharply at curfew as she was at breakfast. 

“Come in, Mr. Potter. Have a seat.” He walked to the comfy looking chair in front of the fireplace and she sat down in her chair before summoning a tea service. “What can I help you with?”

“Well...you see…” He looked to his lap and his fidgeting hands. He wasn’t entirely sure how to start so he took a deep breath and hoped that he could spew out everything all at once to make it easier. 

“I was wondering if Hogwarts had a program similar to the one over the holidays.” She looked surprised at the question, but answered nonetheless. 

“What do you mean by program?”

“Well, students who don’t go home for the holiday break, or-or students who can’t go home over the holiday break...is there something like that for the summer?” She looked thoughtful as she sipped her tea. 

“I’m afraid I don’t think there is. But we’ll revisit that in a moment. Is there any particular reason you don’t want to go home? Or feel that you can’t?” Memories flashed before his eyes, phantom pains rearing their ugly heads with the imagined voice.

You will tell NO ONE or you won’t ever make it out of this house alive again!

He winced, but tried to cover it up with a shiver instead. 

“No Professor. No particular reason.” She eyed him shrewdly and stood before bidding him to follow her. He did and she led him straight to a set of gargoyles surrounding a door he’d never bothered to try to open. 

“This is Headmaster Dumbledore’s office, Harry. If you ever want to ask something or if you ever feel like you can’t tell me anything I want you to know that his door is always open. Even more so than mine, since I have classes to teach during the day.” The door opened and out stepped the headmaster dressed head to toe in mistletoe green. 

“How delightful, I so rarely receive visitors! Come, come, you simply must stay for a cup of tea.”

“I’m afraid not, I’ve got grading to resume. Mr. Potter here might have a few free minutes for a cup of tea, though.” She left then and Harry followed the headmaster up to his office on a set of spinning stairs. 

“So Harry, how are your classes coming along? Not too difficult, I hope?”

“Not too easy either, Sir.” Harry chuckled nervously. 

“The perfect balance then! Please, help yourself. I have plenty of sweets and tea to go round.” He paused and gave Harry a knowing look. “I may be old and senile, but I know a worried face when I see one. You know, I vaguely remember being your age-well, perhaps I was a year or two younger-and I was ever so worried that my mum would chop me up for potions parts if I so much as hinted I wanted dinner at a friend’s house. Quite proud of her cooking, that woman.” 

Harry gave the headmaster a half smile. He could see that the man was phishing for information without being pushy, but he found he liked that a lot more than the blunt demands people tended to have around him. 

“I was only asking Professor McGonagall if there was a program for students who can’t go home to stay over the summer like there is for the holiday season.”

“Ah, an interesting theory. You know,” he pulled out a rather thick book that looked ancient and plopped it down on his desk before flipping through it. “I haven’t had to look into such a thing but now that you ask, I think it’s high time I take a peek. Don’t you?” Twinkling blue eyes went back to the text, quickly scanning the pages. 

“Aha! Here it is-oh, but that’s terribly outdated! No, this simply won’t do.” He turned the text so Harry could read if he wanted to. 

“It says here that we can allow students over the summer that can’t go home, but the only caveat is having a ministry guardian who would allow it.” Harry’s shoulders slumped. 

“And with what the Minister has been saying about me being dangerous I’m sure that won’t work.”

“Oh tosh, just because you had a bit of an accident-”

“An accident? You’ve known charms accidents worse than blowing a hole in the wall at the back of the classroom and also through the next two rooms as well? That’s common?” Headmaster Dumbledore looked surprised at his small outburst and then started laughing.

“Oh my, is that what happened? I thought Filius was exaggerating! Nevermind, the fact of the matter is you’re right. The minister is a bit afraid of you, I believe. You do have quite a lot of raw power and I believe he’s worried you’ll come for his job. He’s even afraid of me taking his position. But I digress, until I can find someone in the ministry trustworthy enough to take over the position of your guardian I’m afraid you’ll have to keep going back home. Unless they’re abusing you, in which case we can press charges against them.” Defeated, Harry shook his head and stood. 

“No, I was simply curious. Thank you Headmaster.” He left, wondering how he was possibly going to survive at the Dursley’s knowing that they didn’t treat him very well compared to people other than Dudley. Somehow, it was worse knowing that no one else he could think of was treated the way he was. 

Maybe he really was a freak.


	2. Chapter 2

“Freak! Get up! Dudley wants breakfast in bed!” Harry silenced a groan and got up, struggling to put on his trousers while hunched over in his cupboard. 

Turns out Dudley’s idea of a breakfast in bed involved Harry filling every spare centimeter of his bed in plates of breakfast foods. He was unceremoniously kicked out when he delivered the last plate and was immediately accosted by his aunt to clean the kitchen from cabinets to floor to be followed by pruning the roses. After that he was sure she’d give him a million more chores. 

After his first summer back with the Dursley’s he learned rather quickly that Hedwig was not only unwelcome but in danger of being outright murdered. He had managed to sneak her out when Vernon had gotten too drunk to remember the lock and Harry had convinced him the next morning that Vernon had thrown her out of the open window and then slammed him into his cupboard. He claimed he hit his head and didn’t remember anything after that and the couple believed him. 

This time, he had told Hedwig he was going to let her stay at Hogwarts during the summer, to which she seemed quite sad about. He’d spent hours reassuring her that he wanted to take her with but that it wasn’t safe for her to go with him. He loved her too much to see her hurt when she could remain safe at the school owlery. 

He only had a few more days before school started and then he’d be able to talk to her to his heart’s content. 

The train station was crowded as per usual when Harry arrived, but he was okay with that since all the commotion prevented everyone from staring at him. He managed to get onto the train and snagged a compartment at the very back all to himself. He was excited to talk to his friends again, but Ron never came to find him. Hermione had come to talk to him about their schoolwork and had even helped him with one of his essays he was stuck on, but she left shortly after to find some of her girlfriends. 

He didn’t see Ron until he came to bed that night, but that didn’t bother him. 

The only interesting thing that happened (besides being the youngest seeker in a century) was the TriWizard Tournament. Harry had been incredibly relieved that there was an age limit on the goblet as well as a 24-hour watch overseen by trained ministry officials. He thought he’d enjoy seeing the tournament, a blessed break from all the studying, but he found that the insane amounts of danger most definitely wasn’t his cup of tea. He left the stands halfway through the first task and didn’t bother going to watch any of the others when they happened, preferring to stay in the library with Hermione studying. 

Ron had ribbed him endlessly about it, making his heart twinge with guilt, but he stood his ground. He didn’t want to watch a bunch of idiots risk their lives for some money and a trophy. 

The two grew closer as time passed, mostly with Harry putting aside some of Ron’s more obnoxious traits. He loved talking about quidditch with someone that actually had a deeper interest with it rather than a superficial enjoyment of watching a game or two and that alone was worth ignoring Ron’s degrading comments and occasional joke that took it just a bit too far. 

And Harry liked Ron’s company when he was in a good mood. He’d even confessed that his situation with his aunt and uncle was abusive if he didn’t do exactly what they wanted when they wanted it. They’d had a long conversation that day about what is considered abuse and where the lines lay. Uncomfortable that Ron was firmly in the belief that emotional abuse didn’t really count, Harry neglected to tell him about the emotional and mental toll his family had put him through and instead downplayed the severity of their abuse since they didn’t hit him all that much. He learned early on how to please his family to avoid getting unnecessarily hurt. 

The end of fourth year, the boys in their dorm had been having debates about the TriWizard Tournament once more. It was something Dean just couldn’t let go of and fixated on every now and again. 

“No amount of money is worth that amount of danger Dean, you know that,” Seamus’s answer was always the same. 

“I know that but it doesn’t make a thousand galleons any less shiny! Do you know what I could do with that amount of money? A lot, that’s how much!”

“I’d say that amount is worth the danger. It’s a lot of bloody money, isn’t it? I’d walk through a maze for it, that much is obvious.” Normally, Harry would simply charm his curtains shut to block out their noise so he could get some shut eye, but they’d started this conversation on a Friday night when he didn’t need to get up early the next morning, thereby rendering his usual excuses for class the next day useless.

“I think you all are nutters if you think a thousand galleons is worth putting your life at risk.” Ron turned to Harry then, and Harry inwardly flinched. Ron was a bit sensitive about money since his family didn’t have a lot of it. Briefly he wondered if he went too far with his opinion.

“Oh yeah? And just how much money do you have that a thousand galleons isn’t worth a few scratches?”

“Ron that tournament has killed people before! No amount of money is worth your life.”

“You didn’t answer the question.” Harry shrugged. He wasn’t comfortable talking about money because he didn’t have any reference for how much the average wizarding family had. It was a foreign concept to him and instead of overspending he found that he spent rather little compared to even Ron. 

“I dunno, I’ve never bothered to count when I’m in my vault. I usually only take out what I’ll need for school supplies and an extra galleon or two for extra spending money throughout the year.” He hung his head when Ron’s gaze turned to a glare, daring him to answer the question. “Professor McGonagall told me the Potter family vault has more than the trust vault I have access to right now. Gringotts is supposed to contact me on my seventeenth to go over the family finances.” Ron’s face went from beet red to almost a pasty white before he forced his face to relax. His shoulders were still tense, though. 

“I suppose you wouldn’t think it that much money if you have a trust vault and a family vault. Goblins only contact you on your seventeenth if it’s a lot.” Harry excused himself for bed then before the tense atmosphere could bother him too much. It was the first time he admitted he might actually have more money than most, and it felt just as horrible as he thought it would. 

That summer Harry received an invite to stay at the Weasley house. He agreed and packed his things, happy to be out of his aunt and uncle’s clutches for the rest of the summer. 

Ron had grown quite close to him and his obnoxious traits seemed to dissipate and left Harry quite pleased with their friendship. By the time they went back to Hogwarts, they were inseparable. 

It wasn’t until Halloween that anything out of the ordinary happened. Hermione had asked Harry to go study with her for ancient runes, a tradition the two had come up with to distract Harry from what day it was. Ron had interjected before Harry had an opportunity to say anything. 

“Nah, we’ll be playing some chess in the common room tonight.” Harry turned to Ron and braced himself. 

“No Ron, I told you this morning I had to study with Hermione today.” Ron turned back to his breakfast, muttering something under his breath. Harry was pretty sure he heard something about ‘not being a very good friend then’ and sighed. He had really wanted to go study with Hermione, it was something he had been falling behind on. 

“I’m sorry Hermione, I must have made plans and not realized the date.” She looked concerned but nodded anyway. 

“Well, you know where to find me if your chess game ends early or something.” Harry nodded, swallowing past the lump that had formed in his throat. 

Turns out, Harry didn’t need to worry about canceling on Hermione. He sat in the common room for two hours before Ron finally came through the portrait with Lavender Brown in tow. The two were practically glued to one another and Harry sighed. He’d wasted hours of research for his essay due on Monday and Ron was getting it on with some twit. 

Hermione had been beyond understanding and told him he could come and study with her anytime he wanted. Mid afternoon rolled around when Hermione asked him about something other than runes. 

“Harry, do you think it’s alright if someone comes to study with us today? I had someone ask earlier if he could study with us.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t have any issue studying with anyone.”

“Even if it’s Draco?” That gave Harry pause. He didn’t like that Ron went out of his way to bully the Slytherin, but the repercussions of not participating were bad. The one time he refused to take part in taunting the blond had resulted in Ron screaming at him and digging at his every insecurity before giving him the cold shoulder for over three weeks. He tried to keep everything as tame as possible after that, even going so far as to sneak peeks at the map Headmaster Dumbledore had given him with his father’s cloak to ensure they could avoid Draco Malfoy on the way to class. 

“I don’t have any issues with him.” Hermione must have picked up on the slight emphasis he put on the ‘I’ but she moved on without comment. 

“Oh good, he’s really good at runes but he has a hard time with the practical application which you’re really good at. I thought you might be able to help him since apparently I’m too technical.” She rolled her eyes and they snorted. She was as technical as a textbook. 

Turns out, Draco wasn’t that bad to study with. Sure his tailored clothes made Harry feel a bit frumpy in comparison but it was nice to know that being put together on the outside didn’t mean you automatically think you know everything. 

Halfway through their essays, Hermione got up to fetch a few different books and Harry looked at Draco. 

“I’m sorry.” Draco looked up, confusion evident on his face. 

“Excuse me?”

“For the things Ron does. And says.” Harry looked into his lap, his hands twisting together nervously. “I don’t like the way he treats you. It’s not like you start any of it.” Shame curled up from his stomach, making him feel quite warm in his cheeks. 

A soft touch under his chin lifted his face a fraction before he flinched. The finger withdrew, regardless of how much Harry wanted it to stay when he realized the touch wasn’t meant to hurt him. 

He looked up, surprised to see Draco looking concerned about him.

“You haven’t done anything wrong. Weasley’s a bit of a prick, nothing I can’t handle.” The urge to defend Ron welled up inside him, even if a small portion of his mind told him he didn’t need to stand up for him. 

“His family doesn’t have much, I think it bothers him that you have so much money and never want for anything when he’s had hand-me-downs his entire life.” 

“That’s not entirely true, he just started wearing new robes on the weekends.” Harry looked out the window, preferring to see the sun setting over the Forbidden Forest than to look at Draco. 

“I bought those for him a few weeks ago. He wouldn’t stop talking about how his robes had all these threadbare spots and stains so I got him new ones in the hopes he’d stop complaining.”

“Well, did it work?”

“No,” Harry’s voice was barely a whisper now. He felt small and exposed; vulnerable, and he didn’t like it. Powerlessness bothered him, but he felt compelled to answer Draco honestly. “No, he started complaining about his school robes. About his second-hand books, nevermind that they look just like the books you get for new and hold the same information, and his wand. It’s a hand me down as well apparently.”

“His wand is a hand me down?” Draco’s sharp tone snapped him to attention and he turned back to the blond. 

“That’s what he told me.”

“No, Harry. That’s not true. Wands that don’t belong to a wizard simply don’t work. He would either be blowing things up every spell he cast or he simply wouldn’t be casting spells. Why else would your dormmate-Sean? Seamus?-be such a pyromaniac? He’s using his uncle’s wand most of the time.” That got Harry’s attention. If what Draco was saying then Ron was lying about his wand. 

“And besides that, I’ve seen Weasley’s wand. It’s a Diggory creation, more of a generic wand company than Olivander’s. They work, but they’re not as accurate as Olivander’s can be.”

Harry’s head spun and he swallowed before putting his head down. 

“Are you alright?”

“Fine, fine. Just too full of studying to think much more.” The two laughed and Harry was grateful Draco was willing to let it go. They both groaned when Hermione showed up with more books, but obediently cracked some spines to get their essays done on time with good marks. 

To say that Ron was livid was an understatement. He’d heard that Harry and Hermoine had been studying with Draco and practically lost his mind over it. Hermione had appeased Ron in the common room, telling him the three had been paired into a group by the teacher and needed to get the project done. In the dormitory, however, Ron laid into Harry. 

“How bloody dare you spend your time with him? What, am I not good enough for you anymore?” Harry’s heart sped up. He really hated fighting. 

“Ron, it’s like Hermione said. We had to study together to get our work done. I wasn’t pleased about it, but I did what I had to do to pass the class-”

“SO DROP THE BLOODY CLASS!” Harry backed up from the sudden roar until his calves brushed the end of his bed.

“I can’t just drop the class in the middle of the year Ron, you know McGonagall would kill me!” Ron’s eyes narrowed and Harry felt like shrinking in fear. Everything in his body was screaming at him to get away from Ron, but he couldn’t move. Rooted to the spot, he tried to talk his way out of it. “She’s so strict with her students, you know that! I’d be in detention for the rest of my life scrubbing cauldrons for Snape if I dropped ancient runes-”

He was cut off by a loud CRACK and an intense stinging on his cheek where Ron had backhanded him. He froze, shock coursing through his veins and suddenly he was very, very afraid of what Ron would do next. 

Ron grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand away from his face towards him. 

“If you so much as back talk me one more time,” he growled, “I’ll have your head on a platter. Understood?” Harry nodded, gulping and trying to prevent his body from shaking. “Good. As your best friend, I’m the most important person in your life, not the teachers.” Ron left the room then, slamming the door and leaving Harry to his own devices. 

He collapsed on his bed, the shock leaving as quickly as it came and rendering his body a shaking mass of sobs and terror. 

Sure, he’d been hit at the Dursley’s before but this was Hogwarts. School was supposed to be safe, free of needless violence. The sheer weight of how wrong he was hit him full force as he curled into a ball to try to reduce the shaking. ‘I’m not even safe from my friends…’


	3. Chapter 3

From that day on, Harry did his absolute best to not let anyone see him studying with Hermione and Draco in the library. He’d wear his invisibility cloak and sneak into a seat at their table before Hermione would cast notice-me-not charms around their area and strong silencing charms so no one would hear Harry talking. 

The rest of that year went by relatively calmly, with Harry doing his absolute best to ensure that Ron had ample time with Lavender and minimal time with him. He missed his best friend, but he really didn’t want to slip up and mention something about studying with Hermione in the library again. Ron had made it very clear it wasn’t acceptable for him to be going to the library for anything other than resources to check out. And it worked well, Ron would spend the majority of his free time with Lavender and that allowed Harry to be able to go about his life relatively normally. That is, until he realized he was being followed by Colin. 

“Hey Colin, is there something I can help you find?”

“No,” the younger boy answered cheerfully. “I’m supposed to tell Ron where you went so he can find you. He’s been looking for you, you know.” Harry felt a flash of panic but managed to push it down.

“Not to worry, I’m just headed for the library for a book on defence. I should be back to the common room in the next quarter hour or so.” 

“Cool, I’ll come with you. I need a book about defence as well.” Harry did his best to figure out a way to get Colin to leave him alone but gave it up as a bad job and went to the defence section. As he passed by the usual study table, he shook his head ever so slightly and completely ignored Hermione before selecting a book and making his way to Madam Pince to check it out. 

He could practically feel the concern coming from Hermione boring a hole into his jumper. 

Colin didn’t even pick up a book to try and look like he had told the truth and chattered incessantly the entire way back up to the common room where Ron was waiting for him. He sat down on the floor since all the chairs were taken and pulled out a bit of parchment to start taking notes when Ron cleared his voice. 

“Defence Against All the Arts? What on earth could you possibly need that for?” Irritation coloured Ron’s voice.

“You know my best subject is defence, I thought this would challenge me a bit.” Harry went back to the book, only getting a sentence in before Ron snorted and started talking to him about how he wished he were good at anything and how easy it must be to not have to worry about homework for one of his classes. Harry tried tuning him out but from the way the comments swirled around in his head, it must not have worked out so well. 

“Are you even bloody listening to me?”

“Yes Ron. You were just saying that you want to study with me more about defence. So what do you want to learn?”

“The patronus charm.” Harry immediately regretted offering to help Ron. 

“That’s a bit complex, don’t you think?”

“Well, you can do it so easily, it must be easy for you to teach it as well. Unless you just don’t have to try for anything in defence.”

Anger at that boiled in Harry’s veins. The patronus charm was extremely hard to pull off for him, having had so few happy experiences in his life strong enough for it to even work. He’d had to fabricate a memory, falsify the feeling of happiness in order to produce the corporeal form and spent months just trying to get a wisp to appear. To hear his best friend say that he must not have to try if he can’t explain it to him was maddening. In the end, he calmed himself. After all, Ron had to deal with being overshadowed at home. It must be hard dealing with your best friend seeming to do better than you as well.

“Alright, first you have to think of a happy memory…”

That night, Ron plopped into bed and was out like a light immediately. A good sign for Harry. The rest of their dormmates came and fell asleep quickly after, leaving Harry free to roam the castle with his invisibility cloak and his map to avoid teachers. Letting his feet wander for him, he came across a large bay window he hadn’t really noticed before and sat down on the ledge to watch the first snow start. It would be time for everyone to go home during the holidays in just two short weeks, and that was reason enough for him to smile sadly. He would miss his friends, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that he wouldn’t have to tip-toe around Ron for a bit of blissful peace.

His face was leaned against the window, apparently charmed against fogging up and was just considering conjuring a big fluffy blanket when exactly that was placed on top of him. He jerked, certain he’d been alone up until that point. 

Of all the people he expected to see, Draco wasn’t one of them. 

“You looked cold.” Draco shrugged and pointed to the other side of the window ledge. “Can I join you?” Harry nodded and Draco climbed up, letting their slippered feet tangle together under the pile of fluff. “Couldn’t sleep?”

Harry shook his head. “You?”

“More like I was restless and didn’t want to be around Crabbe and Goyle any longer than necessary today. Their stupidity is going to rub off on me one day if I’m not careful.” They chuckled and Harry went back to watching the snow outside. 

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like? To be a snowflake, I mean.” Silence met his question, so he plowed on. “To be so gentle and so free, not one single care in the world. To not have to worry about what snowflakes you’re around or have to watch what you say because...well, you’re a snowflake. Not much to say, is there? Just you and the open air and a soft landing when it’s all over with.” He thought Draco would scoff at his rambling, and was pleasantly surprised when he seemed to think about his answer. 

“It does sound peaceful. But what about friends? Company must be fleeting, at best. You wouldn’t have any relationships that mean anything. And talking helps people learn, helps them heal and let’s face it; it feels pretty damn good to complain about things every now and again. And love; you’d never find love if you were a snowflake. You’d never be around anyone long enough to develop that sense of trust-”

“I don’t trust anyone now so what’s the difference?”

“You don’t?” 

Harry practically shrank back into himself. He’d said too much, but it was too late to take it back. 

“I...well, I guess I trust you and Hermione.” Draco gave him an odd look at that. 

“What about Weasley? Don’t you trust him?” Harry looked down and shrugged. 

“Yeah, I trust him.” Even to himself, he sounded forlorn. 

“Come on, you can’t expect me to believe that.” Fingers touched his under the blanket and held his own hands, flingers weaving tightly together. “Won’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

Managing to say anything would be insanely difficult, but Harry felt like he needed to tell someone. He might burst otherwise. It took several attempts, but finally he managed it and once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. 

“It’s just...he always makes everything about himself and he never bothers to listen to anyone. He couldn’t care less about homework and all he does is bugger his girlfriend or send Colin to spy on me and follow me back to the common room. He hates that I spend my time studying-time he’s busy with Lavender, mind you-and he lost his bloody mind when he heard about us studying with Hermione the first time. He’s so irrational when it comes to what I’m doing and who I’m doing it with, but it’s normal for people to fight so I must just be wanting a friendship from heaven to not worry about the next argument we’ll be having. He’s always got to be right, even when he’s wrong and I don’t even know if I want to be around him but the blowout would be so much worse than you could possibly imagine. And to top all of that off, he’s so insensitive! You’d have to have the emotional capacity of a brick wall to not be affected by his negativity and constant problems. But I’d miss him if I dropped the friendship. He knows things about my life that no one else does and if that was enough for him to start treating me differently, then everyone else will too. And I’ve spent a lot of time with our relationship, too much to simply give up on.”

Draco nodded and patted Harry on the shoulder. 

“I’m here, if you ever want to talk about anything. And I promise you, I won’t treat you differently if you’re worried about that.” Harry recognized the moment for what it was. He could choose to trust Draco, here and now, and that would either make or break their relationship. Draco would either stick by his side and they would grow closer or he’d turn and run. Possibly sell the entire story to the papers. 

He didn’t know which route would be harder for him to handle. 

Deciding to take the middle ground, he asked Draco a question in response. 

“What’s your opinion on different types of abuse?”

Needless to say, the sudden turn of their conversation took Draco off guard. He shrugged and simply said that abuse was abuse; hurting people wasn’t okay, no matter how it was you hurt them. Draco’s response put Harry at ease, knowing that he wouldn’t have to beat around the bush with the issues back at the Dursley’s should it come up. 

They sat there in silence for a few moments before Harry spoke up. 

“What are you planning on doing for the holidays?”

“Oh, I’ll be staying in the castle this year. Mother wanted to go to France and I think Father wants to spend a bit of their time doing some married couple things.” Harry took in the slightly pinched look on Draco’s face and laughed, prompting Draco to smile and start laughing with him. 

“You should laugh more. I like it.” The last of Harry’s giggles faded as his face flushed bright red. 

“I don’t often have much reason to laugh, if I’m going to be honest.” 

“Well, I’d like to change that. Starting this holiday. When the train’s left Hogsmead, come find me at the Honeydukes and we’ll stock up before heading back.” Harry smiled and nodded, excited for the shopping trip and the ability to hang out with Draco without anyone knowing. 

And when the day arrived when the students would finally be leaving for the holiday, Harry glanced at the list of students staying in the castle. It was only him and Draco as well as a small handful of first years in Ravenclaw. Not even Colin would be able to follow him around like a lost puppy. 

Harry goodnaturedly harped at Ron all through breakfast since he hadn’t even started packing and in retaliation, Ron started eating slower. It would have been impressive, if Harry wasn’t so eager to get some much needed peace and quiet. Eventually, though, Ron did manage to finish his breakfast and the two quickly packed his trunk. It was only when Harry realized Ron would be late if they didn’t run that he really started to panic and even then, Hagrid saw them running from the front steps and held the train up for Ron to get on. Harry waved, barely noticing the twinge of disappointment when Ron didn’t even turn around to wave or even wish him a happy Christmas. 

“Runnin’ a bit late today, lad?”

“Yeah Hagrid. Thanks for holding up the train, Ron took forever eating and didn’t pack until after breakfast.”

“Ah, ‘s no big deal. Well, I’m off. Got ter find some good trees for this year.” A large hand pulled Harry in for a hug and he grinned before saying his goodbyes and heading to Honeydukes to meet Draco. 

Draco, who was currently trying to balance seven bags of ice mice while reaching for a tin of biscuits. 

Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed the ice mice before they all fell from their teetering tower and Draco turned with fire in his eyes before realizing who had stolen his haul. 

“Oh good, I was beginning to think you’d stood me up. Grab a basket, will you? They were all gone when I came in.” Harry chuckled and asked the shopkeeper if she had a spare basket he could borrow. After she handed him one, he dumped the sweets in the basket just before another load of things were tossed in. 

“Oi, my arm’s liable to fall off here if you start dumping things like that!”

“Sod off, you’re fine. Mother just updated my account credit for the holiday, so if you see anything you’d like to try or anything you fancy just grab it.” Harry raised an eyebrow. 

“Account credit?” Draco paused and turned back to him. 

“Yeah, most students have one here that their parents set up around the beginning of third year. The parents open an account with their kid’s name and give the shop money up front. The kids can then use that account to pay for their goodies until it runs out, which is when they’d have to pay themselves or stop coming in for sweets. I thought you had one.”

“No, I don’t spend much money really.” 

“Oh,” Draco lowered his voice and looked around before whispering, “Did the Potters not have as much as everyone thought they did?”

“What? I’ve no idea. I’ve only been to my trust fund since I’m not of age and my parents aren’t exactly around to tell me how much is in the family vault. I’ll find that out when I turn seventeen.” Draco blanched. 

“Ah, I sort of...didn’t think about that. Sorry.” He looked rather contrite and Harry brushed him off. 

“Not to worry, but if you don’t start dumping more candy into this basket I’ll assume you’re done shopping.” Draco laughed and turned back to the sweets. 

“You wish!”

The two left with a decidedly ungodly amount of sweets tucked into large bags the two carried back up to the castle. An owl flew by overhead, just a large streak of brown soaring through the air to the owlery. 

“That’s Ulysses. He’ll have a package from my parents, just you wait and see.”

“Ah, and what’s in the package?” 

Draco was hastening ahead of him, practically on the brink of running when he shouted something suspiciously close to “Alcohol!”


	4. Chapter 4

Draco was unnaturally happy about being the person who introduced alcohol to Harry Potter. It was a bottle of Ogden’s Finest, something that his parents saw fit to gift him with earlier that year for his birthday and now for the holiday season. And somehow, Draco managed to convince Harry to play a drinking game which resulted in the two being far too drunk to really think about what they said before they said it, but not far enough to forget everything the next day. They wandered around the castle, arm in arm, singing, badly, the school song and giggling far too much. 

It took a long time for the two of them to make it to the Room of Requirement, but they did finally make it and Harry had to try no less than half a dozen times to get the room to show itself. Inside there was a rather nice sitting room with a huge bed off to the side with hangover potions on each bedside table. A fireplace running the length of the wall crackled happily while they stumbled to the plush couch. 

“I can’t believe you got me drunk!”

“No, you got me drunk, remember?” At this, Harry closed his eyes and opened them again in one really long blink. 

“No, don’t do that to me. You got me drunk, not the other way ‘round. Ron does that and I’ve decided I don’t like it.” Draco patted himself on the back for not laughing at the way Harry’s speech sped up and slowed down in odd places, but managed to focus on the issue at hand. 

“I’m sorry. You don’t deserve to be treated that way, you know.”

Instead of placating Harry, this statement did just the opposite. 

“I bloody well know that! But you don’t understand, he’s always trying to be better than his brothers and his family doesn’t have enough money to go around and he’s just trying to make the best of a bad situation. It’s not his fault he doesn’t know how to handle it! His family puts a lot of pressure on him to be better.” Draco shook his head and focused on needing a sobriety potion. The Room, being the best thing ever at that moment, supplied two on the coffee table. He drank one and handed the other to Harry. 

“We’re too drunk to be having this conversation right now, drink that.” The potion kicked in remarkably quickly; you could see the exact moment Harry sobered up in his facial expression. 

“I’m not sure I like alcohol so much. I’ve said too much.” 

Overwhelming guilt at the things he’d said about Ron flooded Harry’s system when the sobriety potion chased away the pleasant fog the alcohol had him in. He shouldn’t have said those things about Ron, Ron was a good person. Wasn’t he? 

So why didn’t Harry feel worse about what he’d said? 

“Harry, I think you need to be honest with me. And with yourself. Is Ron a good person?”

“Of course he is! He spends tons of time with Lavender when she asks him for company and he’s always trying to get Seamus and Dean to help him pull Neville out of his shell. He’s constantly supporting his sister, and he’s always helping younger years get to class without getting lost.”

“But is he a good person to you?”

“Well-I…” Harry hesitated, trying to remember the last time Ron was a good person to him. It was harder than it should have been, but Ron had been through a lot of hard times lately. “He’s been through a lot lately, but that’s what friends are for. They support you most when you’re having a rough go of it.”

“Okay, what about me? Am I a good person to you?”

“Pfft, what sort of question is that? Of course you’ve been a good person to me. You help me study and keep me from being too distracted when I’m writing my potions essays-hell, you’ve even helped me a few times when you notice I’ve got it all wrong. And you don’t pry if I change the subject either.” 

“Glad to hear it. Now does Ron treat you the same way I treat you? Or even close to it?”

Try as hard as he might, Harry simply couldn’t remember a time when Ron had been as good of a friend to him as he had been to Ron. Sure, Ron had talked trash with him about the Dursleys, but how much of that was being a good friend and how much was simply rolling along with it because it was convenient?

“I...guess it’s been awhile.” Admitting that out loud was one of the hardest things Harry had done to date. It was true, Ron hadn’t been a good friend for a long, long time. In fact, now that he thought a bit more on it, he hadn’t seen Ron do anything for him that wasn’t immediately followed by him complaining about one situation or another that Harry had come in to save him with. Realizing that hurt, and a part of him wanted to scream that he was having a rough go of it and that once his life evened out financially, presumably once he got a job out of school, that he’d go back to being the friend Harry had once seen in him. 

“Doesn’t that bother you? That it’s been so long you had to think about it?”

“Of course it bloody well bothers me! I keep hoping that he’ll come around and that he’ll even out and maybe that’s true but I haven’t seen it happen yet! And that sucks! I know he’s capable of being a really good person and a wonderful friend but he’s so wrapped up in his own little world that he doesn’t care to be a better person. I keep thinking that maybe if he spends enough time around me that maybe he’ll start being better, that he’ll learn by being around it all the time but…”

“But?”

“But I don’t think that will happen. I’ve got to try, though, or what kind of person does that make me? The kind that gives up on everyone? I don’t want to give up on people, that’s a horrid thing to do.” Draco reached out and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

“Harry, you can’t help everyone. Sometimes, people are beyond our capabilities. And that’s okay. You might not have the skillset to help him; or he just doesn’t want to be helped by anyone. That’s not your fault. Just because you have to give up on someone, doesn’t make you a bad person. It simply means you’re acknowledging that they’re beyond your reach and it’s healthier for you to let them go.” Harry nodded and tried to ignore the way his heart squeezed. 

“You’re right. But I live in the same dorm as him, and I don’t want to mess that arrangement up. We’ve still got quite a ways to go living in close quarters.” 

“We’ll figure that out in time. For now, just focus on being happy.”


	5. Chapter 5

The two spent almost every waking moment in each other’s company the entire holiday. They got all their homework done within the first two days and spent the rest of their time flying, chucking snowballs at each other, helping the professors decorate and in general just being teenagers together. Draco complained about Pansy’s crush on him, Harry complained about Hermione’s incessant study schedules and the both of them complained about ancient runes. 

Harry found that he enjoyed Draco’s company for more than just studying. He was bright, always had an opinion on things, had a secret love for snow and genuinely cared about what Harry had to say. It was too bad the holiday was so short lived-he’d love to be able to spend more time around Draco and getting to know him better. 

And on Christmas Eve, the two went to the Room of Requirement to find the same cozy room that had been there before but this time it was decked out with a large tree near the side of the fireplace. Baubles were sparkling, but not necessarily in an annoying way. The couch was large and plush with the table full of special holiday treats to munch upon. 

Draco plopped himself down after tossing his robes aside, leaving Harry to gawk at his attire. He was clad in muggle jeans and a button down shirt in a champagne gold colour that made him look positively ethereal. Harry barely had time to shove his jaw back into place before Draco turned to him. 

“Happy Christmas,” he said. 

“Y-yeah, happy Christmas to you as well.”

“Mother sent me an owl. Specifically, she asked about you since I mentioned we’d been getting along quite swimmingly.”

“Oh, she did?” Harry was shocked. He didn’t think Draco’s parents would be very happy about him since, according to Ron, Lucius had been a death eater and was livid when Voldemort had died. Draco nodded, pulling him from his thoughts. 

“Oh yes, she wants to know all about you apparently. I think she’s going ‘round the bend just a tad, but you didn’t hear that from me. She’s paranoid that I’m going to end up single and alone all my life if I don’t date anyone at school and to be quite frank I would rather resolve a few things first before I start showing my interest in anyone.” Harry nodded. After all, it only made sense. 

Or...that wouldn’t have made sense to him when he was younger and he wondered why-or even when-his opinion on that changed. Sure it would make sense if you had something major that was taking up a lot of your time and energies but wasn’t being romantically involved with someone supposed to help you improve yourself and your life?

He must have spoken out loud, because Draco answered him. 

“Well sure, in theory. It depends on the situation, I suppose. Sure, I could wait until I get my vain streak to calm down a bit but I would do a lot better if I had someone around me to remind me when it becomes a bit obsessive that it’s alright to let something like a single hair out of place go. But if it’s something like...like if my mum just got really sick and was dying. That’s about the worst time to start dating someone, because that will take all of my energy and effort to be there to support her.”

“But you need someone to support you, too!” Draco smiled at that. 

“Right, but I wouldn’t be starting a relationship at that point in my life. If I’m busy supporting someone who truly needs it that I’m close to, then learning to support a relationship at the same time isn’t going to result in a good relationship. And that’s not fair to me or the other person. But if I’ve got relationships that are already in good standing-for example, us-I wouldn’t shut you out just because mum fell ill. I’d rely on you to help me. But I most certainly wouldn’t expect an almost stranger to help me through that.”

“Oh, yeah I guess that does make sense.”

“Anyways, mum wants me to have fun and to date around but I’m not all that interested right now. Like I said, there’s a few things I need to sort out first and then I’ll be able to think about dating. But I almost feel like I can’t mention any of my friends because then she starts going on about how we’d make a cute couple. You know she had seriously suggested to me a few months ago that Blaise and I would be cute together?” Draco cringed. “No thank you. Not my type at all.”

“Well, what is your type then? If the whole tall, dark and handsome doesn’t fit the bill?”

Draco shrugged and gave him an odd look. “It’s less the looks and more of the personality. Blaise is too aggressive when it comes to his opinions, he’s not very understanding if something doesn’t fit into what he thinks is right. He’s not disrespectful about it, but he doesn’t exactly listen to any counter points either. Someone willing to talk, to actually converse about things and someone who can...I dunno...tolerate my flaws without getting impatient. And to be honest, someone a bit shorter than me would be nice. Looking at Blaise is like looking at the top of the Eiffel tower from the base.” Harry burst into laughter, noting that Draco followed. The two helped themselves to the spiked eggnog as they talked about their ideal partners. 

“I guess I’d have to say you have some really good points. Except the bit where you’re taller, personally I don’t think I’d like kissing someone that’s below me.”

“You’ve never kissed someone that’s shorter than you?” Harry suddenly felt a flash of insecurity but quickly gathered up his Gryffindor courage (with a bit of help from a large swig of eggnog) and shook his head. 

“I’ve never kissed anyone, taller or shorter.”

To say that Draco looked shocked was an understatement. 

“Harry Potter has never kissed anyone?” Harry shook his head again, trying not to giggle from the way Draco’s mouth hung open. “Never?”

“Well I’m sure my mum did once or twice when I was a baby, but not in my memory can I recall anyone ever wanting to.”

“Oh come off it,” Draco exclaimed. “You’re Harry bloody Potter, of course everyone in the school wants to kiss you!” Harry just shrugged. 

“I’ve never wanted to kiss anyone so I suppose I wouldn’t know.” A thought dawned on him just then and he narrowed his eyes at Draco with a smirk on his face. “Everyone?” Draco nodded. “So that means the great Draco Malfoy has thought about kissing me at some point?”

Draco’s face flushed bright red, giving him away immediately. 

“Oi, it’s not like I’ve thought about it much! Just passing thoughts every now and again. More curiosity than anything, I think I’ve thought about kissing most of the students in our year at some point or another.” Harry stomped down the brief wave of disappointment he felt. 

Why he felt it, he had no idea but he wasn’t exactly in a great position to dissect it right now. 

“Harry?” He looked up and raised an eyebrow. 

“Draco?” Draco smiled and shoved him lightly. 

“Bloody ponce, you are!”

“Oh piss off, you love sarcasm and don’t even try to deny that!” Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

“Can I ask you something?” Harry motioned for him to continue. “Have you really never been interested in anyone?” 

Harry thought over his answer carefully. The truest of answers was that he was almost afraid to bring anyone into the dynamic Harry and Ron had created-it hadn’t worked out the best with Hermione and everyone that tried to get close to Harry always kept their distance when Ron was around so he hadn’t even bothered trying after second year. 

“I guess I just...haven’t thought about it. There’s always something else I need to think about, you know? There’s schoolwork and revising with Hermione and during the summers I don’t exactly get out much. But between those three things alone it leaves such little time to think about kissing anyone.” 

By the time the two were yawning, Draco had convinced Harry to stay in the Room with him to sleep for the night. Harry reluctantly agreed but somehow managed to stutter out a warning that he tends to have nightmares so he might want to stick to his own side of the bed to prevent himself from getting hurt. 

The two dressed in the pajamas the Room had given them, Draco’s set in a deep burgundy and Harry’s in a deep viridian green. Draco hadn’t even thought twice about the colours being in the wrong sizes, but Harry had noticed and then promptly stopped caring when he saw just how good Draco looked in burgundy. 

They both climbed into the bed, Harry having to almost-but-not-quite jump onto the tall bed, and stayed to their respective sides for about an hour and Draco had just started to drift off when Harry whimpered. He reached over and carded his fingers through Harry’s hair until they both settled into sleep. 

Draco could tell it hadn’t been very long when he was jolted awake by a breathy silent scream. He sat up and looked over to Harry who was screaming, but almost silently. He was definitely exhaling like he was screaming, but it had a high pitched little squeak every now and again.

At some point Harry had learned how to silence his screams in his sleep. Draco was furious, but decided that was a problem for later. He gently pried Harry’s arms off of the pillow he was clutching and wrapped them around himself instead. Harry didn’t fight back, but the twitching didn’t help any. He managed to get Harry’s head in the crook of his arm and carded his fingers through Harry’s hair again until he settled down. 

He looked so small and vulnerable with his face streaked with tear stains and red from the ordeal. Draco brushed Harry’s fringe from his face gently and smiled. Maybe his mother had been right, maybe he was lonely. He certainly would like to wake up with Harry in his arms more often, but was that he wanted a person to wake up to or did he want to wake up to Harry specifically?

Harry sighed and sniffled before snuggling further into his arms. Draco smiled to himself and created a plan to help Harry get better. Once Harry was in a better place mentally, Draco would be able to think about the possibility of a future with Harry. But not until he was better. He needed to be able to find himself, to be able to rely on himself and those closest to him. 

But first that involved Harry realizing that Ron was controlling him and breaking himself free of that toxicity safely. 

Harry woke up feeling more well rested than he ever had before. His throat didn’t seem scratchy and raw like it always was when he woke up and his arms weren’t covered in scratch marks or red spots from where he usually itched. And he was completely relaxed, not tense anywhere. Certainly, he wasn’t worried about anything like normal; be it that the Dursley’s would be in to start screaming or Ron to start complaining. 

He was totally relaxed when he woke up, and he loved it. 

And his pillow was rather nice too. It supported his head and arm in all the right places so he didn’t have any cricks or parts of himself that had gone numb in the night. When he realized it was moving and that the pillow was in fact Draco, Harry couldn’t be bothered to care. 

Draco made a bloody good pillow and he was going to take full advantage of that for as long as humanly possible. 

He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was so relaxed that he didn’t even flinch when fingertips stroked through his hair, In fact, he smiled and leaned into it a bit. 

“Good morning Harry. Happy Christmas.” Draco’s voice was rough with sleep and Harry inhaled to respond. He smelled like vanilla and cinnamon, and maybe star anise? Cardamom? There was definitely a hint of orange as well. 

“Mmm, happy Christmas.” 

Harry opened his eyes to look up at him, and Draco’s breath caught. While Harry’s eyes were bright during the day, when he just woke up they were dark green and threatened to drown him in their depths. 

“Did you sleep well?” Draco hoped Harry hadn’t noticed his breathing pattern change, but he didn’t seem alarmed by anything at least. 

“I’ve never woken up this well rested before. Or without waking throughout the night. Whatever you did helped a lot.” Draco chuckled. 

“Just held you until you calmed down is all. We fell asleep like this.” Harry yawned and stretched before moving to sit up. Draco followed suit and Harry leaned on his side as Draco levitated their gifts straight to the bed. Their gifts were a bit jumbled when they landed, but Draco rolled his eyes and handed Harry one. “We’ll sort through them as we go, yeah?” Harry nodded. 

Harry had gotten so few presents that Draco wondered if anyone cared about him at all. Not even Ron had gotten him anything, but Ron’s mum had sent packages with homemade snacks and Hermione had gotten him a book about Quidditch as well as a small box with several different healing salves, potions and a small booklet of spells for general healing. The note with the box said ‘Just in case’ and Harry smiled sadly. 

“What is it?”

“N-nothing really. Hermione always replenishes my box for the holidays and just before the summer for my birthday. I just wish I didn’t need her to do it so often.”

“Why does she need to refill it twice a year?” Draco had heard of healers or parents with many children needing to replenish their healing kits, but the average person would only need it filled once every year or two at the most. 

“So I don’t have to go to the hospital wing. Ron doesn’t like it when I’m there. Says he doesn’t like being concerned for me.”

Draco couldn’t help but wonder if Ron really was concerned or if Ron was more annoyed with acting like he was concerned. 

“He doesn’t? I don’t like being concerned about my friends but that’s because I don’t like knowing they were in danger or injured. Is it that he doesn’t like it when you’re hurt or he doesn’t like being concerned for you when you are?” Harry shrugged. 

“I guess both? It used to be the first one, no doubt about it. But then...well he didn’t like that time that I got hit with a bludger from so high up. Said he didn’t have time for such nonsense to visit every day and bring me the assignments. Hermione did it for me and she didn’t seem to mind being there. That’s when I asked her to make me one of these, so I wouldn’t be inconveniencing Ron when he has better things to be doing.”

Draco simply handed him a present and told him to get unwrapping already. 

Confused, Harry looked at the package and saw the tag to be from Draco. He tried to say it wasn’t necessary but Draco insisted until Harry relented and opened the package. 

Inside was a bag of specialty owl treats for Hedwig, a jar of the expensive non-smudging ink that Harry always looked at but never splurged on and a plain silver ring that disillusioned itself when Harry touched it. 

“I used to have one when I was little. You spin it around your finger when you’re nervous and it warms or cools depending on when would work best to help you focus. And it disappears when it touches your skin so no one will know you have it on.” Harry smiled at him and Draco handed him the last present. It was relatively large compared to the others, about the size of Harry’s torso, and prompted him to open that one too. 

Harry did and his face lit up when he saw the incredibly soft, super plushy teddy bear. Harry looked up at him, half afraid it was a cruel joke. 

“You mentioned you have nightmares a lot a while ago so I figured it couldn’t hurt if you had him around. I thought it might help. At the very least, it has a silencing charm on it so you don’t have to worry about silencing charms failing in the middle of the night. Just put it on your bed and it’ll charm the whole bed for you.” Harry’s tentative smile turned into a large grin as Harry hugged him. 

“Thank you Draco.” He pulled away and hugged the bear to his chest before laughing. 

“What?”

“Did you mean to get one the same colour as your hair?” Draco blushed. He had indeed sought out the one that best matched his hair colour but he refused to admit it. “It’s too bad it doesn’t smell like you.” 

Trying to act nonchalant, Draco shrugged and said, “I can always spray it with my cologne if you want.” Harry was the one blushing now, but nevertheless he did request that Draco do exactly that. 

“I hope that’s not weird, you just smelled really good this morning and that might help me relax subconsciously later on. It’s worth a try, right?”

“Of course it is.” Draco gave the bear a single spray with the cologne that popped into existence at Harry’s request and Harry hugged it to his chest before burying his face into the faux fur again. 

“Thank you Draco.” Draco smiled and the two spent the rest of the day lounging in the Room of Requirement before dragging themselves to the holiday feast. There was only a handful of people there so there was only one table in the Great Hall which gave the two a good excuse for sitting next to one another. 

It was, by far, the best Christmas Harry ever had.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the school year proved to be uneventful. Harry managed to keep his distance from Ron, more so than he had thought he’d ever want prior to the holiday break, and spent more time with Draco in the Room of Requirement. They mostly studied, occasionally played exploding snap or chess and often they found themselves just enjoying each other’s company. It was strange, in the beginning. Harry hadn’t ever really been around anyone other than Hermione that was okay with silence. Everyone else seemed to be agitated when they were quiet and that usually meant Harry needed to diffuse the situation by trying to change the topic or by staying overly upbeat about something ridiculous. Bringing up the latest gossip floating around the school seemed to help as well, and had even resorted to making things up just to keep Ron entertained. 

Sometimes he swore he should just write a bloody book and start making money off of some of the things he’d made up. Believable, but still ridiculous. 

The OWLs came and went in a blur; Harry and Draco were beside themselves and Hermione was an absolute wreck by the end of it all. And in a strange way, Harry was a bit disappointed that they were done because that meant they were going home. And although the Dursley household was incredibly strict and unhealthy, Harry was glad he wouldn’t be spending any more nights sharing a dorm with four other boys. 

Draco, ever polite, said he’d owl Harry during the summer to which Harry vehemently insisted that he not do that. When prodded about it, Harry simply said his family didn’t like owls and wouldn’t appreciate it. To that, Draco asked if he could send an owl once a week in the super early hours of the morning to ensure Harry’s family didn’t know about it and Harry nodded. He could make that work, as long as they kept to their normal schedules. 

Draco kept to his word and didn’t send an owl until the second week of them being out of school. It was some sort of pygmy breed, small enough to be mistaken for a regular bird if you glanced at it. Harry let the bird rest on his shoulder and read the note attached to its leg. 

‘Dear Harry,

‘How’s your summer so far? I know you don’t enjoy being away from school and wanted to check in on you. Anything interesting happening? 

‘Mum’s gotten into a few arguments with me lately. I think she’s under the impression that I’m lonely and that I’ll never be bonded-or even married-to anyone if I keep going the way I am. Personally, I think she’s off her rocker. I’ve still got time to find someone to fall in love with; after all, it’s not like I’m going to keel over. 

‘Please let me know by return owl how you’re doing and if you require any supplies. I can only imagine how difficult it is to live without having access to things you may need. 

‘Draco’

Harry picked up a pen and, upon not being able to find any spare parchment or paper, simply wrote his response on the back of Draco’s letter. 

‘Draco,

‘I appreciate the offer to send things I need-which mostly consists of anything edible that can be kept at room temperature. Aunt Petunia has decided she doesn’t want her curtains closed when I’m home for the summer and she simply cannot stand the idea that a neighbor might spot me with the family so I’m not allowed out of my room. 

‘Well, I am allowed to use the loo but that’s only during designated trips. They have to let me out for that to happen. 

‘The bird was inconspicuous, I never thought Draco Malfoy would send such a tiny thing. Not at all up to Malfoy Pompous Standards, I’d say. He’s cute though, does he have a name?

‘Harry’

In the last two weeks, Harry had learned that the owl’s name was Sparticus and was a part of the breeding program that the Malfoy family funded. Draco had the idea a few years ago to breed miniature and pygmy owls when he realized that women enjoyed tiny animals so much more than their full sized counterparts. The idea had made them quite a bit of money, and his mother didn’t mind at all when he requested one. 

They exchanged letters far more often than Harry had originally restricted them to, mostly because he was going stir crazy in one room day in and day out. He’d caved on the second letter, telling Draco not to wait until the next week to write back, but to keep the correspondence between midnight and four in the morning to prevent the Dursley’s from finding out what was going on. 

Only five weeks into the summer holiday, Petunia came screeching at Harry’s door. 

“GET UP! YOU’RE MAKING BREAKFAST TODAY, FREAK!” He groaned, having just been jolted from a restful sleep and shuffled to the door of the bedroom they’d shoved him into at the beginning of the summer. 

“Use the loo and quickly. We’re leaving on holiday today and won’t be back until next month. You’re to stay in your room. Vernon will be putting automatic locks on all the doors so you can use the loo and won’t be able to contaminate the rest of the house with your...freakishness.” He didn’t say anything, just nodded and went to relieve himself before being rushed to the kitchen to start making omelettes. And even though he was stewing with the unfairness of it all, he still managed to not burn the eggs. 

She ushered him into the room they’d been keeping him in before Vernon and Dudley pounded their way downstairs to eat breakfast and Harry vaguely wondered if they would leave any sort of food for him to eat while they were away. 

Only twenty or so minutes had passed before he heard everyone filing out the door, the front door being shut, the car being turned on, car doors slamming and then silence. 

Draco’s owl came later than usual, not showing up until the moon was much higher in the sky than it normally would be. Harry smiled when it landed on his shoulder to nip affectionately at his hair. He pulled the letter from his leg and read about Draco’s latest argument with his mother over the care of jasmine plants. 

Harry didn’t know the first thing about gardening other than what they had learned in herbology, and even that was on rocky ground. 

‘Draco,

‘If I remember correctly, you weren’t too fond of herbology; what makes you an expert on jasmine plants? I have more important news though. The Dursley’s left for a holiday today. I’ve no idea when they’ll be back; they said in a few weeks but the last few years Petunia has said a few weeks it was just the rest of the summer. Last year, four weeks turned into two months. Can you send more bread? Crackers couldn’t go amiss either. They’ve effectively locked down the entire house except the loo. 

‘Harry’

He sent the letter off and resisted the urge to simply urinate out of the window. He’d been holding it for longer than he thought and had been waiting for the locks to let him use the bathroom when it dawned on him. 

Vernon never came to put the locks on the door. 

He was effectively trapped in this room with no way out. 

Draco had sent back a small package of essentials with Ulysses within the hour. In that time, Harry had managed to suck up his pride and use the window to relieve himself and he’d already composed half of his letter back in his mind. 

Ulysses had a difficult time getting into the room, seeing as the bars on the window were barely large enough for him to fit. Harry had to stick his arm out, let him perch on his forearm and then gently pull the owl in. The reverse had to happen for him to leave as well, but it comforted Harry knowing that the owl would have to wait for him to write out a response to Draco. 

The package included a small loaf of freshly baked bread, a small jar of jam and a package of flavoured crackers. Draco usually sent more than this, but it was unlikely that he’d had anything else to send on such short notice. Harry always gave him a few days notice before he’d run out. 

Draco had only sent one sentence with the food simply asking if Harry would stay at Malfoy Manor for the remainder of the summer. Harry mentally thought about his options. On the one hand, yes he desperately wanted to spend the rest of the summer literally anywhere but here. One the other hand, he didn’t want to be a nuisance. 

‘Draco,

‘I truly don’t want to be a bother. I can stay here by myself, it’s not like much will have changed. Do your parents even know you offered to let me come stay? 

‘I do appreciate you sending me food. Honestly, you’d think they’d be more concerned about what would happen if I starved to death in their house. But anyway, I’d better let Ulysses out. He’s getting antsy. 

‘Harry’

Draco’s letter back was far faster than Harry thought possible. 

‘Harry, 

‘In fact, I did inform my parents that I had a friend I would like to have over for the rest of the holidays. I didn’t tell them specifics and only mentioned that your family and you didn’t get along. They agreed that you can come stay and ask for the address so they can apparate to you. 

‘As for your little joke about starving to death; that’s not funny. If you didn’t have me to send you food, you would have likely starved to death already this summer alone. You and I are going to have a little chat about this when I see you. And I WILL be seeing you. Write down the address so Father can come fetch you and your things. 

‘Draco

‘P.S. Don’t leave anything behind, you won’t be back there this summer to retrieve it for school.’

Harry sighed, jotted down the address and sent the letter off before packing all of his things into his trunk. It took a bit longer than normal, since he had the urge to pack all of his belongings instead of just what he’d need for this year. He hoped he’d never have to be back, but he kept telling himself it was only because he didn’t know what the Dursley’s would do to his things while he was away. 

A quiet crack sounded outside of his window and he looked out to see a man dressed in a black suit with a crisp white shirt underneath complete with tie and the glint of cufflinks. His hair was fairly long and just a tad greyer than Draco’s hair. 

Harry slid the window open and very quietly called out, “Mr. Malfoy?”

The man looked up and noticed Harry waving from inside the window. 

“Mr. Potter, I presume?” Harry nodded. “I suppose there’s no way to meet you at the front door? I thought not,” he said after Harry shook his head. “Very well.” He flicked his wand and the bars disappeared from the window. 

“S-sir that’s impressive but they’ll notice-”

“Not to worry, I’ll put them back when we’re gone. Now grab your things and don’t stand in front of the window.” Harry moved away and the man suddenly appeared in his room with the same crack he’d heard before. 

“Is this all?” Harry nodded, suddenly wondering if most people had more than one trunk or if it was just a wealthy thing. Mr. Malfoy held out his arm for Harry to take and with a sudden squeeze through what felt like a straw, they were standing in front of a huge and incredibly impressive manor. 

“Wow,” Harry breathed. Mr. Malfoy smiled. 

“It’s quite stunning, isn’t it? My family has worked very hard to ensure the manor is well kept throughout the generations.” Harry saw the door open as they walked and suddenly he was plowed over by Draco. 

“Harry! Are you okay? I was worried sick about you!”

“Oi, get off! You’re squishing me!” Draco complied and helped him off the ground before looking over him. 

“Doesn’t seem like there’s much to squish if I’m being honest.” Mr. Malfoy had levitated the trunk to the foyer and left the two boys with a reminder that breakfast would not be served but they could request tea at any time prior to brunch. 

“Come on, I’ll show you to our wing.” Draco snapped his fingers and asked the house elf that showed up to take the trunk to his room. 

“I thought they only worked at Hogwarts?”

“Nah, plenty of wizarding families have them. They’re basically essential when you live in such a big place.” Harry followed Draco down a few corridors before Harry realized something. 

“Wait, you have an entire wing of this place to yourself?” Draco nodded and smiled when Harry’s jaw dropped. 

“It’s the smallest wing of the house and really I only use the library, bedroom, sitting room and en suite. I think my parents are hoping I’ll have more use for it when I start having people over. Personally, I think this sort of lifestyle intimidates people. Too much space for typical families.” 

“Well I think it’s brilliant. Too much, sure. But if you’ve got a bunch of people over it’d be great.” 

“That’s why it was so big to begin with, I think. Back when it was built it was common for people to travel to balls and huge parties but no one wants to aparate drunk for fear of flinching and hangover potions hadn’t been perfected yet so they only worked with a small portion of the population. Therefore, everyone would stay at wherever the ball was and aparate home in the morning. I like it though, I’ve got plenty of privacy away from my parents when I wish for it.” 

They arrived at a large set of double doors with ornate designs on them. Draco pushed one open and the two walked into a huge living area complete with fireplace, couch, two armchairs and a large table that had a chess set on it. To the left was a small kitchenette that looked brand new if not totally unused and to the right was two doors. According to the blond one led to the bedroom and the other led to a loo for guests. The bedroom apparently had a different bathroom attached to it. 

The two plopped down on the armchairs where Harry curled up in his and Draco leaned against one arm and let his legs dangle over the other facing Harry. 

“So, do you want to talk about it or are you just going to change the subject again?” Harry sighed and resigned himself to the conversation since Draco simply wouldn’t drop it. 

“Fine. They weren’t feeding me and then they just decided to leave me locked into the room they put me in. Aunt Petunia said they were going to attach automatic locks that would let me out every few hours for the toilet but I guess they forgot.” 

“Harry, you do realize how serious this is, right? You would have died if I hadn’t sent you any food.” Harry nodded. He knew how bad it was, but he didn’t like admitting it. After all, it wasn’t like they were holding a gun to his head or raping him or anything. Other people have dealt with worse, so he had no place complaining when others could benefit from the help more than he would. 

“Yeah, I know. I guess I just got used to the way they treat me so I didn’t think to say anything.”

“Are you going to say anything to the headmaster? Perhaps he could find a way to let you stay at Hogwarts during the summer.” Harry thought back to the last time he had talked to Dumbledore and shook his head. 

“I tried going to him before. Apparently there’s too many ministry employees that would take advantage of getting magical custody over me.” Draco looked incredibly sad and Harry stood. “Let’s go to bed, I’d like to get some sleep before this brunch happens. What even is a brunch anyway?”

“It’s a combination of breakfast and lunch. Trust me, you’ll love it. Now come on, you can share the bed with me since it’s plenty big enough.” He was about to protest when he saw the size of the bed. 

Harry presumed it would have comfortably fit a mammoth if they hadn’t gone extinct. To say it was huge was the understatement of the year. 

“No idea why it’s this big, but mum insisted.”

“Geez, this bed’s so big you could sleep with all of Slytherin’s house at once!”

“Oh please, don’t be so dramatic. Here, get dressed so we can go to sleep.” Draco tossed Harry some silk pajamas and Harry cleared his throat. 

“Can I shower first?” His voice was so quiet, he wasn’t sure he had said it at all. Draco smiled at him and showed him to the bathroom where he touched a box next to the shower. “What’s that?”

“Warms your towels for when you get out. Shampoo is the purple bottle and the blue bottle is body wash.” Harry looked at him in confusion. People used shampoo to wash their bodies, didn’t they?

He must have said that out loud, because then Draco was answering him. 

“Oh come off it, of course they use more than just shampoo. Did you think all the different colours in the showers at Hogwarts were all the same thing?” Harry nodded and Draco stepped into the walk-in shower and pulled him with. “Look here, this one is shampoo. Obviously you wash your hair with it. Then there’s this one, just put a bit of this onto the loofa to suds it up to wash your body.”

“Why’s it got a sheen to it?”

“Oh that? It’s sort of slippery so it doesn’t make your skin itch and to be honest it helps a lot if you decide to wank.” Harry blushed at that, but Draco moved on. He was always a bit more open about those things than Harry was. It didn’t make him uncomfortable but Harry wasn’t sure about how to feel about any of those things. He’d only touched himself once and found that he was so scared someone in the dorm would hear he hadn’t done it since. 

“This one here you put in your hair once you rinse the shampoo out. It's conditioner, it’ll make your hair behave a bit more during the day.”

“Oh is that how you get your hair to look so silky?” He blushed, not having intended to actually ask the question out loud. Draco just smiled. 

“Of course. Touch it,” Draco said while tilting his head a bit. Harry ran his fingers through the silvery locks and was surprised to feel that his hair did feel just as smooth and soft as the pajamas he had tossed onto the counter. 

“The knob on the left is hot and the one on the right is cold. But do be careful, the hot doesn’t have a warm-up period like Hogwarts does.” Draco smiled and left him to the bathroom, leaving the door cracked a bit to let steam out. Harry turned the knobs and quickly stripped, hurrying into the shower and closing the glass door before testing the water from the showerhead. It was some fancy once that reminded him of how it felt to stand in rain. 

Hot water had never felt so good! He washed the grime off of himself and then washed himself again just to get rid of the sticky feeling he had. The third round was more normal, followed by a very thorough washing of his privates-bum included. He’d never really paid that much attention to washing that particular area of himself before, but he was rather curious about washing inside himself. It seemed logical that some people might-after all if some boys didn’t wash their dicks then there had to be some that did wash up in their own channel. He prodded the area, found that he was quickly gaining a boner and promptly stopped. 

The last thing he wanted was to deal with that situation so he left it be and turned the shower off before grabbing the towel from the box. 

And dear Merlin, hot towels were the absolute best thing in the world after taking a shower. He’d have to remember to charm his towels at Hogwarts. 

When he was finished and dressed he went to the bed and climbed in, barely having time to put his glasses on the bedside table before he was out like a light.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry was surprised to note when he woke up that he had woken due to hunger and not his aunt screaming or dormmates shouting at each other to get out of bed. He smiled, kept his eyes closed and stretched languidly. The mattress must be stuffed with clouds, there’s no other possible explanation for how soft and soothing it was. 

And the down duvet was doing wonders for him as well. It was incredibly fluffy and just heavy enough to be comforting but not so heavy that it made him feel claustrophobic. He could get used to waking up like this. 

As if it could get any better, he suddenly started smelling wonderful things nearby. Ah yes, the brunch Draco was talking about.

Apparently Draco was still in bed because he felt the mattress dip near him and the duvet was pulled off of his face. He scrunched up his face in protest at the bright light and yawned before sitting up, eyes still closed. Harry was busy trying to locate his glasses while Draco watched with a smile. 

And the amount of food sitting on the bed was staggering. Each one was clearly charmed with some sort of stabilization spell to keep the food from tipping. Everything he could imagine was in front of him. Draco was busy making himself a plate and turned as if to ask Harry why he was staring when he could be eating. He grabbed a small bowl of oatmeal, covered it with some sausage gravy and topped the whole thing off with an over-easy egg. He settled in with a glass of orange juice and tried not to laugh when he saw Draco devouring some sort of food that he didn’t recognize. 

“Um...Draco? What is that?” Draco looked up and licked a bit of whatever it was off of his mouth. He rather looked like a deer caught in the headlights. 

“It’s a lobster benedict. A bit hard to describe, here take a piece.” Harry, seeing no other option, opened his mouth for Draco to place a piece of lobster smothered in some sort of sauce on his tongue. And he wasn’t disappointed! It was rich and creamy and so good that he considered getting his own portion.

Draco, without needing to be told, grabbed a plate and placed a portion on it before passing it to Harry with a slight blush on his cheeks. Realizing he had groaned in quite the obscene way at the flavour, he apologized and took another bite of his oatmeal. 

“I understand, it’s incredibly delicious. I imagine I did the same thing the first time I had it.” The two smiled at each other and moved on with their breakfast. 

Harry couldn’t help but think that this would be his best summer ever. 

True to what he imagined, it was the best summer ever. He got to fly with Draco and play seeker games, his homework was finished in record time and he even had plenty of opportunity to become a bit more confident. 

Normally, he’d be out with Draco on their brooms trying out new quidditch moves or playing a seeker game, but today’s weather was not having it. Thunder rolled gently through the sky with rain pattering down in steady waves. An occasional flash of lightning would be followed by a large CRASH of thunder, only to be followed by the softer rumbling once more. Harry was sat on the window seat, covered in blankets and surrounded by pillows, watching the scene with an oddly calm sense of fascination. 

Draco came and joined him after a while, sitting on the opposite side of the seat and burying himself in with Harry. 

“So, anything on your mind?” Harry shrugged and gave Draco a half smile. 

“Nothing specific. I guess I’m just wondering when I’ll be able to hear from Hermione again. Her and her parents took a holiday to Australia, so they’re too far to send owls.”

“I see. I’m not enough entertainment for you?” Draco kept his voice low, even if there was a teasing quality to it. Harry appreciated the effort he went through to try to keep the atmosphere light without being boisterous. That wouldn’t have fit Harry’s mood at all. 

“Prat, you’ve always been enough for me.” He hadn’t thought twice about his words, until he felt Draco’s foot nudge his leg. 

“I wasn’t aware you knew the size of my entertainment if you catch my drift.” The way Draco was trying-and failing-to hold in his laughter made Harry’s breath catch. He was flustered and he could feel the blush he was now sporting, but he wasn’t completely sure what to say so he turned back to the window and chuckled nervously. That seemed to do the trick and before he knew it the two were giggling like schoolgirls. 

Draco was besides himself. Did he just flirt with Harry bloody Potter? Yes, yes he did. And he had no idea why he had done it.

After the two calmed down from their giggles, Draco spoke up. 

“I’m going to have tea with Mother today to keep her company. Merlin knows, she’ll be dreadfully upset that she can’t take it in the garden, what with the weather and all.” Harry nodded and Draco left the comfort of the blankets to go find his mother. 

She really wasn’t that difficult to find. In a rare turn of events, she was wearing a large pair of baggy velvet pajama bottoms and a tight long sleeved cotton shirt. Draco’s jaw nearly hung to the floor when she didn’t start shrieking about how he couldn’t see her in such a state and to turn around. She wasn’t even wearing shoes-not even a pair of slippers!

“Mother, are you feeling alright?”

“Fine dear. A bit sad the rain has taken the patio for the day, but the flowers do need a drink. How are you and Harry?” Draco blinked, surprised that she had asked about Harry. 

“F-fine, I think. I’m not sure. He’s a bit melancholy today.” 

“Oh is he? Well I hope whatever is on his mind isn’t too much of a bother for him. Come, are you joining me for tea?” Draco nodded and she transfigured his outfit to match hers. He smiled and sat down on the sofa with her before they tucked into their cups. 

“I presume you had something in particular that’s on your mind?”

“Actually, yes. I...you see...I made a bit of a joke earlier and I wasn’t sure how it would land but it seemed to be fine. Same type of joke I’d make with anyone else. But I’m not sure how I feel about it since it was Harry I made the joke to.”

“Well, what was the joke?” Draco made a face. “Oh come off it Dragon! Your father has had to do worse to me just so we could have you, I can handle a simple joke.” At this, Draco’s mouth fell open. She rolled her eyes and waited patiently for him to explain. 

“Oh that’s harmless. I do find it interesting that he blushed, though. Now, what about the joke concerns you?”

“That it was him I made the joke to! Honestly, I don’t understand it. It’s the same joke I would have told anyone from Slytherin.”

“Are you attracted to anyone from Slytherin?” Draco, taken aback by the sudden turn of topic, took a moment to tell her that no, in fact, he wasn’t interested in any of the Slytherins. “Ah, and what about in general? Are you attracted to anyone?”

Draco had to think about that one. Sure, there were attractive people at school, but he wasn’t attracted to anyone specifically. 

“I guess not. I mean, some people are attractive, but I haven’t found myself drooling over anyone or anything like that.” She sipped her tea as she thought about his answer. 

“Well, I’m not sure there’s much I can do for you, Dragon.”

“Mother! You’re supposed to help!”

“You’re right. But would it help you if I told you I think you’ve got a bit of an infatuation with Harry?” Draco sputtered as she smirked at him over her teacup. 

“I can’t possibly-”

“Well, why not?” That took all the steam out of his ramblings. “He’s an attractive young man. You’re always talking about him during the summers, you offered to take him into our home, you’re constantly finding ways to be around him during school and you’re nervous around him when lewd subjects arise. It makes sense to me.”

“I-I can’t believe you think that…”

“Tell me what I’m wrong about then.” Draco shook his head, disappointed that he couldn’t exactly tell her she was wrong about anything. 

“What does a crush feel like, anyway?”

“Well, you tend to end up a bit obsessed for some time. You can yearn to be around someone and you’ll take any way necessary to get there. The whole boys pulling the hair of girls they like came about from that. They’re dealing with crushes and finding ways to be around the subject of their feelings-no matter what. So they use hair pulling as an excuse to be near the one they like. As you age, though, you’re typically less obsessed with how much time you spend together and more concerned with the quality of time you spend together. Petty arguments typically turn to deeper conversations. If you like their personality, then usually it’ll progress but if you don’t like them as a person most of the romantic feelings will fade.”

“And then what?” Draco’s heart was racing. He had gone so far out of his way to make Harry miserable, and why? To be around him. He used to think it was because he was jealous, but looking back he wasn’t so sure. And lately the two have spent more time together doing homework-rather insignificant but they did it near each other nonetheless. The cherry on the cake was now that him and Harry have had many meaningful conversations, and since he most definitely liked Harry’s personality, he was afraid of what his mother would say next. 

“Well, that’s about it. From there most people confess their feelings at some point or ask the object of their affections out for a date. It depends on the situations, but that’s when most people decide to either stay out of the romantic territory or if they’re going to jump in and have some fun.”

He spent a few more hours with his mother. They chatted about the latest fashions and they pointed out the more ridiculous fashion trends before laughing and admiring the ones they liked. And when his father flooed home after lunchtime, he followed to his study so they could discuss the political climate. What Draco didn’t expect was for his father to bring up the subject of Harry. 

“Son, I wanted to ask you something.” Draco motioned for him to continue. “What do you see for your future?”

Needless to say, Draco was taken off guard. His father had never asked him that before. 

“I suppose...well I supposed you and Mother would arrange a marriage for me so I can have children and carry on the Malfoy line.” His father’s brow creased. 

“And if those were not expectations of you?”

“I’d find someone to love and live my life with them. Whatever happens after that happens.” Draco didn’t realize it, but he was smiling softly at the idea of living in a reasonably sized house with small children running around and the knowledge that somewhere in the place was a husband all too happy to welcome him home. Before that thought could progress much farther, his father stood and rested a hand on his shoulder. 

“Draco, I want you to be aware that I do not expect you to follow through with an arranged marriage. The time for arranging such things is over; go out and find someone to fall in love with. Just be cautious with whom you give your heart to. There are many that would gladly marry you for the money and the money alone.” Shocked, he nodded and the two parted ways for the day. He headed back to his room only to see Harry fast asleep where he had left him earlier in the day. 

His hair was as wild as ever, but Harry’s face looked much more relaxed then he’d ever seen it before. At the nearly silent snore he realized Harry had to be uncomfortable so he scooped him up and carried him to the bed before tucking him in. As he brushed Harry’s fringe away from his face, a thought slammed straight into him with the force of a speeding lorry.

Merlin above, I’m attracted to Harry-Bloody-Potter.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry woke up the next morning warm and cozy. The fluffy duvet was tossed over him but it was more than that-he felt safe. His mind was still mostly groggy when he realized they had somehow shifted in their sleep so Harry’s head was in the crook of Draco’s arm with his hand laying on Draco’s chest. Despite having a brief moment of shock, he decided to double down on his luck and just enjoy being held by someone. 

And no wonder couples constantly spent time laying about in each other’s arms! Perhaps he enjoyed it so much because he was starved for someones-anyone’s-touch, but he didn’t ever want to move from his current position. That was, until Draco woke up. 

He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even as Draco gently untangled himself and quietly closed the bathroom door. He rolled over, disappointed that Draco had left but not completely crushed like he would have been had Draco decided to freak out. A part of him had expected that, prepared him for it even, but Draco was surprisingly calm about it. 

He heard the door open again and tensed just a little when he felt the bed dip behind him before relaxing completely as an arm slid under his pillow and another was wrapped around his waist. Harry felt himself smile the smallest amount and before he drifted off once more. He couldn’t be sure, but he swore he felt Draco’s lips graze the back of his neck just before sleep overtook him again. 

The next time he woke, Draco seemed fast asleep. He yawned and stretched before getting up without jostling the blond. He had no idea that Draco was watching him-more specifically, that Draco was practically drooling while watching Harry’s arse as he moved. 

The two boarded the Hogwarts Express for their sixth year and found an empty compartment together. Draco stowed their trunks and Hedwig’s cage on the racks above them and they settled in for the ride. They’d purposefully shown up early to avoid the crowd of perpetually almost-late witches and wizards dropping their children off at the platform. Draco started to read aloud-something that had started quite spontaneously when Harry had gotten curious about what he was reading. Draco tried, and failed, to keep the smile off of his face when Harry relaxed and laid down on the bench with his head on Draco’s lap. He carded his fingers through the brunet’s hair and read with the book levitating in front of him. 

He noticed Hermione put a charm on their compartment door as she walked by, no doubt showing the younger years where to go. She returned after the train started moving and quietly stowed her things away. She didn’t say anything but pointedly looked at Harry and back at him with an eyebrow raised. 

“He spent most of the summer with me, you know that. This relaxes him.” She sighed in resignation and sat down.

“So what’s happened between you two?” Her question confused him. Happened how? How much did he say? How much could he say? Harry had explicitly told him he didn’t want anyone to know how bad it was. 

“I-I can’t tell you, really, how this summer started. He told me he doesn’t want me to talk about it, so I won’t. But in the end, my father agreed to pick him up and bring him back to the manor for the rest of the summer. We’ve grown quite comfortable with each other.”

“And the book? You were reading to him.” Draco cursed himself as he felt a blush start to make itself known on his cheeks. 

“I was reading one day and he asked me what it was about. Since I had just started, I went back and started reading out loud as a joke but he said he was interested in hearing the rest only a few paragraphs in.” He shrugged. “I simply obliged him and it became a part of our routine.”

“Yes, but Gone With the Wind? Seriously? I never thought you’d read anything written by a muggle but especially not that one!” He downright loathed that he could feel his cheeks grow hotter. 

“Harry likes the ones with a love story best.” She gave him a suspicious look, followed by a self-satisfied smirk. 

“Anything else you’d like to tell me?” She paused before continuing. “You know, as his honorary sister, I’m sure there’s something you must have forgotten to mention.” 

Draco felt well and truly cornered when her eyes narrowed in warning. Checking to make sure that Harry was actually asleep and not just dozing, he blurted, “Alright fine, I like him okay? What’s so bad about reading to him if he likes it?” And there was that stupid smirk again. 

“He doesn’t know, does he?”

“What, and possibly scare him off? How absurd, I don’t want to be the hero; swooping in and rescuing him from the big bad villains and then expecting him to swoon. How atrocious. No, I’d much rather friendzone myself than lose whatever it is we have right now.” 

“Oh Draco, you know it’s not-”

“It is though! Don’t you get it? He has girls practically lifting their legs at their hero. Think about it, he’s a hero and everyone wants him because of that! Could you imagine how he’d feel if he thought I was manipulating my way into his heart simply because of his celebrity status? It’s not worth it. I’d rather die.”

“Don’t be so bloody dramatic, you’ll turn into a book character before long! Although, I do see your point. By the way, what was your opinion on the homework for history of magic…”

The two talked until she decided to go out and patrol the walkways and make sure there wasn’t any funny business happening. 

“About time, I thought she’d never leave!” Draco barely managed to not jump clear out of his skin. 

“Bloody fuck Harry! How long have you been awake?” 

“Somewhere between ancient runes and patrolling for troublemakers. Why?” Harry yawned and Draco had to look away, lest those emerald orbs manage to get him hard while Harry’s head was using his lap as a pillow.

“Just curious on how long you were plotting my demise.” They laughed and Draco continued reading. 

Harry cursed, thankful for the silencing charms on his curtains. This was the third night in a row that he just couldn’t sleep. The first night back was easy; he was so exhausted emotionally from the mass of students demanding his attention and from catching up with friends that he barely hit the pillow before he was asleep. The second, third and now fourth night were absolute torture. 

He’d made sure he was safely ensconced in his bed before Ron came up for the night each day and was proud to say that his wards around the bed worked rather well, if the loud complaint was to be believed when Dean touched the curtain. 

The brunet cursed again and finally decided to bloody well get up. It was just after midnight, and since the next day was the start of the weekend, he decided to just get up and go for a walk. The teachers stopped patrolling around midnight anyways so they could grade in their rooms and have a bit of a lie in. He swung the invisibility cloak around himself and departed without a sound. 

This was how he liked Hogwarts best. It was quiet, the walls splashed with the moonlight from the windows and Harry loved it. You could practically hear the castle breathing magic. While he walked, his mind wandered. He desperately wanted to know why he was having such a hard time falling asleep. 

Really not much had changed in his routine since coming back to school, other than the school part. He woke up at the same time every day, went to bed at the same time, ate at the same times...the only thing he wasn’t doing now that he was at the manor was sleeping with Draco next to him and listening to Draco read fiction novels. Now Draco was prone to reading textbooks to him, although he’d promised to switch back to the fiction novels during the weekends when their homework was done. Harry was still bitter about that decision, he wanted to know what happened to Scarlett already!

That only left sleeping next to Draco. Just the thought of laying next to him with a warm blanket practically knocked him out standing up. He was just having trouble sleeping alone, that was all. 

He turned and made his way to the hospital wing. The bags around his eyes had caught Hermione’s notice that morning, and he wasn’t about to let it happen again without seeing Madame Pomfrey first so she couldn’t lecture him again. He took off the cloak and turned the corner while hoping that he wasn’t going to be disturbing her too much. 

To his surprise, he saw her handing a potion to someone with shocking blond hair-what would Draco need from Madame Pomfrey at this time?

“Harry?”

“Draco?”

“What are you doing here?” They asked each other. 

“Uh...I couldn’t sleep again,” Harry muttered. He mentally kicked himself for the ‘again’ slip but hoped that Draco wouldn’t latch onto that little chestnut. 

“Again?” Harry sighed. 

“Yeah,” he admitted. Madame Pomfrey sent Draco on his way and instead of just giving him a potion so he could sleep for the night, she had him sit down in her office. The plush armchair was soft and comfortable, much more so than the old, worn-out armchairs in the common room. 

“I understand you’re having trouble sleeping?” Harry nodded, curious as to where this was going. “Have you given any thought to why that might be?”

“I spent the summer with the Malfoys. I simply got used to sleeping next to someone, I think. I’ll be okay, I just have to relearn how to sleep alone.” She gave him a knowing smile and pulled a tea service out from seemingly nowhere. He gladly accepted a cup and settled in while she thought about what to say next. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m rather curious. The staff and I have noticed you’re avoiding Ron Weasley and I was wondering why. And keep in mind that anything you tell me I won’t be allowed to tell anyone else. Just between us.” Harry hardened himself, preparing for an interrogation. 

“So I haven’t been spending as much time with him. It’s no big deal.”

“And do you think that maybe your issue with him is making you too tense in the dorms to sleep properly?” Harry simply shrugged. 

On some level, he knew she was right. He knew he was stressed and tense and anxious, especially at night when he knew Ron was in the same room as him. But he also knew that she wouldn’t be telling him this if it wasn’t important. 

“Have you noticed you’re tense or particularly stressed out lately?” 

“Yeah, I have been.”

“And does it get worse when you’re near Ron?” He wanted to scream no, that she was wrong, that Ron was a good friend and was just going through a phase. He always had a temper and Harry wasn’t about to let that ruin his friendship. And yet, a very small part of his mind told him that not even Seamus would treat him the way Ron had been for quite some time.

“Maybe it does, but that’s besides the point! The point is I want a potion or something that will let me sleep-just for tonight. I haven’t slept for so long, I’m desperate to get some rest.” His vision swam with his desperation and in a flurry of emotions ranging from anger at himself for not admitting the full truth to hysteria from sleep deprivation, he stood. 

“Thank you for your time, Madame Pomfrey. I appreciate it.” Suddenly feeling quite numb, he turned and made it to the entrance of the hospital wing where Draco was leaning against the wall. Draco held his arm and guided him to the Room of Requirement where they both slid under the duvet in the bed provided and fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry woke up the next day feeling more refreshed than ever and carefully got out of bed without waking Draco. He dressed in clothes the room provided, used the loo and made his way down to breakfast. 

Or rather, he made his way down to lunch if the food selections were any indicator. 

He ate and quickly made his way back to his dorm to grab his homework so he could spend his Sunday relaxing instead of panicking that his essays were due. He had just grabbed his bag and turned when he practically ran straight into Ron who promptly tried convincing him that he didn’t need to be studying right then. They had better things to do. 

“Ron, just stop. I’ve got to get my homework done. Besides, I thought you wanted nothing to do with me anymore.”

“What, me? What gave you that idea?”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve been glaring at me from across rooms and trying to pick a fight since school started again! Don’t give me that innocent act, it’s not going to work. I don’t want to deal with your insincere attitude, just leave me alone already!” Ron’s face darkened and Harry took an involuntary step back. 

“How dare you? After all the things I’ve done to watch your back? I’ve done so much for you and you’re just going to piss all over that? What the fuck gives you the right to take my loyalty and not give any in return? Huh? Are you going to answer me, or not?” Harry shivered in fear, but desperately tried to stand his ground. 

“No, Ron. I’m just done. I’ve got somewhere else to be, now move.”

“Oh I don’t think so. You’re going to tell me exactly why you’re cutting your ties with me when I’ve stuck my neck out for you and stood by you when you’ve been nothing but a jerk back. You’re going to explain to me why you treat me like shite because you’re not allowed to treat me like that anymore! This whole thing is your fault, let’s not forget that! You’re ungrateful and you can’t see what’s right in front of you. Just how is it that you’ve decided that I’m in the wrong when it’s you that has to be a spoiled brat!”

Tears welled in Harry’s eyes and he practically ran from the room. He bolted through the common room and just kept walking. He didn’t stop until he realized he was at the top of the Astronomy tower. When he realized where he was, he sat down and thought about all that Ron had said. 

He was fully prepared to beat himself up for being such a crappy friend when he thought about Draco. He must not be such a terrible friend if Draco had stuck around, right?

“Harry, I was worried when Hermione said you ran from the common room instead of meeting her in the library.” Draco sat down next to him and Harry took a deep breath to calm himself down. 

“Draco, am I a good friend?”

“Why would you even ask that? You’re a bloody great friend!” Draco must have sensed Harry’s disbelief because he continued after a moment. “Look, I don’t have many friends. Acquaintances, yes. Friends? Not really. In the time I’ve gotten to know you, you’ve done nothing but exactly what friends are supposed to be for and more. I don’t think you understand just how amazing of a person you are.” Harry shrugged and looked towards the sky to watch large puffy white clouds drift along the grey expanse above them. 

“Listen, you’re more than just a friend to me Harry.” Confusion broke Harry from his stupor. 

“What do you mean I’m more than just a friend?” Draco blushed and Harry couldn’t help but think about how attractive Draco was when he got embarrassed. 

“I don’t want it to affect our relationship. I’ll tell you if you want, but you have to promise you won’t let it bother you.” Harry agreed readily. He always was too curious for his own good. 

“You’re more than just a friend because somehow I’ve developed a bit of a crush on you.” Harry wasn’t sure what to think. The confession had sideswiped him and took him completely off guard. But the longer he looked at Draco, the more he started to wonder what it would be like to date him. 

Even what it would be like to kiss him.

“It’s not a big deal, I can ignore it well enough and-”

“What if I don’t want you to ignore it?” He had shocked himself. He didn’t mean to say that, but something in him had acted before he could put words to how he was feeling. By now, all thoughts of Ron and his hurtful words were forgotten. 

“I-do you really mean that?” Draco looked as gobsmacked as Harry had felt when he first opened his mouth. But he was coming to accept that what he had said was not only true, he had meant every single word of it. 

Harry shrugged. “I mean, I’ve never done anything with anyone and I’ve certainly never dated but I’m not adverse to the idea.” Draco’s jaw slowly closed and a smile grew on his face. 

“Truly? You want to give us a go at being a couple?” 

“What have I got to lose? Besides, most everyone else only wants me for the fame or the money-usually both. Since you’ve already got both of those, I’m sure that’s not something I’d have to worry about with you.”

“Of course not!” With that, Draco leaned in and pressed his lips to Harry’s cheek in a chaste kiss. Harry had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to wipe the stupid smile off his face for the rest of the day. 

Since then, the two were inseparable. They partnered during classes they shared and studied together. Not to mention sleeping together in the Room of Requirement every night and Harry had even taken to eating at the Slytherin table. 

The chaste kiss Draco had given him on the top of the tower had been the only one. Harry was far too shy to initiate anything else and Draco always seemed like he was fighting himself on it. 

The two had decided to return to Draco’s home for the holiday season. Draco had spent the entire train ride carding his fingers through Harry’s hair while Harry slept. Turns out train rides put him to sleep. 

His mum met them at the station and the three flooed from the Leaky Cauldron. Harry told Draco to spend some time with his parents while Harry started in on the essay he had planned on finishing the night before but never got to.

“Just don’t think too hard, you’ll hurt your head.” Harry clearly knew that he was joking if the smile was anything to go by. It was enough to take Draco’s breath away. 

“Prat. Enjoy your time away from schoolwork.” Harry even had the cheek to wink at him, something that did funny things to his insides. 

“My, I haven’t seen you smile that way in years. I was beginning to think you didn’t know how to anymore.” Narcissa’s teasing gave him the courage to blurt out what had been on his mind the last few weeks. 

“Mother, I want to talk about marriage contracts and how they work. I know you’ve been itching to teach me and I didn’t want anything to do with it but I think I’d like to learn now.”

“Oh don’t worry about it dear. Your father and I talked about it and we decided you don’t need to follow through with the ridiculous Malfoy traditions. It’s really too much pressure to be putting on someone so young. Honestly, I can’t believe I wanted to teach you about it when you were younger.”

“Mum,” Draco’s tone was far more serious than he had ever made it sound when speaking to her. This grabbed her attention, something he wanted to be solely on him for the time being. “I want to learn about it. The marriage contracts, the courting rules, everything. I really can’t afford to go into this blind.” 

“Very well, come with me.” They moved to the dining room and with the help of a house elf there were sheafs of parchment sprawled across the entire table. 

“Firstly I just want to make it very clear that marriage contracts aren’t to be taken lightly.” Draco nodded, he knew this already. “And before you can begin courting someone with marriage in mind, you must consult a Seer. They will approve or disapprove of a match.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s said that soulmates are a myth. While we don’t really know if that’s true or not, the Seers are only here to tell us if the match between two parties will work. If they disapprove, either one or both of you will be miserable no matter how hard you try. If they approve, then any issues you’ll be capable of working out and any misery in the marriage is solely your fault.”

“Way to lighten the mood,” Draco muttered. His mother, never one to mishear a slight like that, smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”

“I’m only here to tell you the facts, not to baby you along the way.”

“Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Good, now seeing the Seer has to be done before you can offer a marriage contract.”

“Wait, doesn’t the courting come first?” His mother sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry, I’ll listen.”

“That’s the logical way of thinking. But with purebloods, it’s a bit different. You have to go to a Seer to have the match approved first. Then you draw up a marriage contract, something to entice your desired partner to entertain the idea of you being together seriously. If they decline, then you either have to redraw another contract after a year or you can move on as well. They don’t have to decline, but they don’t have to accept either. Acceptance means you can move forward with the courting without any further hubbub. If they don’t do either, they will present you with a counter proposal. Within it they’ll include what they don’t like about the original contract or they’ll add clauses for the courting period. It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the way it is.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. But then what happens?”

“You move forward. You can keep presenting each other with revisements or you move forward with the courting once it’s been accepted. And typically the courting is either until a certain age or for a certain amount of time. Your father’s courting with me was a year and a half so we both had some months after reaching the age of majority to transition into adulthood without the marriage getting into the way.”

“So what are the rules of courting then?”

“We’ll talk about that later. For now, let’s finish on the subject of marriage contracts.” She cleared her throat and started moving parchments around to show him a few sample contracts. “Now once the courting period is through, you revisit the marriage contract. Both parties will have a copy to edit as they see fit and then you’ll both meet with whomever is representing you. A mutual friend of both parties is also there to act as mediator and to create a version with all the edits and compromises. Once that’s done, you all reconvene to go over the final edits again and make minor adjustments as you see fit. And this can happen as many times as necessary-your father’s and mine took nearly seven meetings to finally hash out all the nitpicky bits.”

“Do people really have that much to agree upon?”

“With our family, yes. There’s the entire Malfoy fortune and estates to think about; not to mention heirs. That’s not including if you want to include fidelity clauses, how often intercourse happens, where you’ll live, who is in charge of daily finances, law wizards-”

“Alright, alright! I get the point. And after all that we can get married?”

“Oh yes, but do take note that I will need approximately an entire year if not more to plan out all the details.” Draco groaned. 

“Remind me why I can’t just go to the ministry?” She laughed at him. 

“Because we have an image to upkeep and traditions to withhold. Now, on to the courting rules…” She went on for some time about appropriate dates, rules for public outings, and so on until Draco was convinced his ears would bleed. Until, that is, she said something that made his ears tune in.

“What do you mean a chastity spell? What kind of chastity spell?” 

“The kind that prevents you from having sexual relations with anyone but yourself. It will allow you to kiss each other-and before you ask, no it will not allow anyone’s tongue into anyone else’s mouths. Anything above the jaw and below the wrist is allowed-but again, no tongues or you’ll receive quite the shock. Oh don’t look so devastated! It will be able to differentiate between holding someone without sexual intent and say giving them a hug. You’ll be fine as long as you don’t intend to rip their clothes off.”

“Mum, I’m a teenager-of course I’ll be thinking about ripping clothes off!” She clicked her tongue. 

“Just because you’ll want to doesn’t mean you will. Once you decide you’re going to do something, the spell will prevent it. Wanting it and intending to do it are two very different things. Now are you going to tell me why you’re so eager to learn about all this?” Draco snapped his mouth shut. He wouldn’t tell his mother, not yet. He had to talk it over with Harry first. And besides that, Harry probably wasn’t ready for that anyways. Nope, he wasn’t going to tell his mother anything.

“I want to do right by Harry and court him.” He started screaming at himself, wondering why in the bloody fuck he thought he could resist telling his mother anything when she gave him that particular look. It made his insides twist to know he was hiding something from her. 

“I see. And do you think he will feel the same?”

“I don’t know, but I should at least give him the option, shouldn’t I?”

“Have you given any thought as to who would represent him? He is a Potter, after all. That is a pureblood line, he’ll need someone to teach him how to care for his estate and fortune.”

“If he agrees, would you be willing to teach him? Father wouldn’t have the patience to start over like that, he doesn’t know anything other than what he sees at Hogwarts.”

“I’d be delighted to. Now, I believe you have someone to talk to? It’s gotten quite late. I’ll have dinner sent up for you both.” She gave him a knowing smile and shooed him off.


	10. Chapter 10

Draco was petrified. He hadn’t gotten two steps into the room when Harry had asked him what was bothering him. He had thought that he’d hidden it better, but his anxiety over bringing it up to Harry must have shown on his face. 

“Draco?” Harry was sitting on the window seat again, perched with a blanket and a schoolbook. 

“Mother asked if you had anyone to teach you about managing your estate when you come of age.” He was glad to hear that his voice didn’t waiver. 

“Uh...not really. But there’s only one key to my vault at Gringotts and I don’t really spend that much.” If Draco hadn’t been brought up with impeccable manners, his jaw would have dropped. 

“Harry, you’re a Potter. The Potter estate is one of the biggest estates known to wizards. You’ll have properties and more vaults at Gringotts and likely business ventures collecting revenue from all over the place. Did you really have no idea?” Harry’s face had drained of colour. Apparently he hadn’t known any of that.

“No, I didn’t know…”

“Mother said she’d be more than willing to help you learn how to manage it all. Father lacks the patience so she offered in his stead.”

“Well...I’d better learn before diving headfirst without knowing how to swim.” 

The first thing Narcissa did was insist that Harry call her Narcissa. The second thing she did was insist that he learn about marriage contracts first. 

When he pressed her for an answer on why he had to learn that one first, she simply mentioned that she knew her son well and that he’d probably explain properly later. While that didn’t ease his nerves, he shrugged and they jumped right into the subject. 

And how fascinating it was! Sure, marriage contracts seemed to be a bit cold and not very romantic but it made sense. At least both parties would be aware of what the other expected from their relationship in the long run; a bonus was the ability to simply decline should a contract offer come his way. Narcissa told him he was likely to receive many marriage contract proposals the day he turned seventeen and that number would only increase until he was actively participating in a contract. 

He was looking forward to it just for the idea that people would stop swooning over him anytime he went out in public. 

The only thing he couldn’t figure out was why Draco hadn’t mentioned any of this while they had been at Hogwarts. Deciding to voice his question, Narcissa gave him a smile. 

“Draco and I hadn’t gotten to discuss how marriage contracts might fit into his life prior to your winter break. He wanted a bit of time to explore his wants and desires before worrying about the technical part of it and I wasn’t about to force it on him. His father wanted to, but Draco deserved a bit of time to figure out what he likes and I didn’t want him to think of it as a business deal.”

“But isn’t it just that? A business deal?”

“Oh heavens, no! It used to be more like that, back before my generation but as time goes on purebloods have realized that love has to come first or the relationship will only result in many couples being completely miserable. That’s why the courting period is there; to allow the two to get to know one another and without all the insane hormone rampages you teenagers get yourselves into.” Harry blushed. He’d never really felt as sexually inclined as the other boys in his year were, but he refused to bring that up at the moment. 

He did wonder why Draco never brought this up before; after all, they were sort of dating...weren’t they? Draco had only kissed his head once, but they held hands and spent time together when they didn’t need to. 

“I think that’s enough for one day, dear. Come back down tomorrow for tea and we’ll pick up where we left off. We’ll be covering properties and household management next!” Harry nodded and slowly made his way back upstairs. He couldn’t get one particular thought out of his head. 

Why hadn’t Draco offered him a contract if he was interested in him?

It turns out Harry’s worrying was for nothing. When the subject came up, he had felt completely dejected but cheered up at Draco’s explanation. 

“Listen, I wasn’t sure how they worked myself. I’d put off learning about them since I wanted to have fun at school; I didn’t want to tie myself down to anything too soon. I know myself, I would have tried to bring up contracts with everyone I liked and I didn’t want the other purebloods to think I was too indecisive for their offspring. By removing the temptation to court everyone I laid eyes on, I refused to learn about them.”

“So why learn now?”

Draco shrugged. “That’s a bit of a multifaceted answer. On the one hand, I felt it was time I learned about it so I could go into it prepared and decide what I wanted out of a life partner. And on the other hand, I finally found someone I’d be happy to present a contract to.” Harry’s heart skipped a beat. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

“Harry, are you okay?” He nodded and rubbed his eyes. 

“Your mother made me read so much fine print; are my eyes bleeding?” They laughed and Harry changed the subject to wizard’s chess. 

The next day Harry was having tea with Narcissa and going over the finer points of how to manage properties and how to keep the buildings in shape even if they’re not in use. Apparently things can become run down in an absurdly short amount of time.

Draco entered when she had started explaining the difference between a manor and a mansion. He was smartly dressed in black trousers and a button up shirt in a pretty cerulean blue colour and held out a scroll tied with a black velvet ribbon. 

Tentatively, Harry reached out to grab it. 

“I took the liberty of setting up an appointment at the Ministry. They’d like us to arrive in an hour, if you’d like to consult a Seer.” Harry could very well imagine that his cheeks would set fire to anything around them. 

“O-okay. In an hour? Do I need to do anything?” Draco smirked at him, but his eyes were soft. 

“No, just be ready to leave in an hour. I’m sure Mother would be happy to escort you. I’ll be leaving now with Father to attend to some things before then.” He winked and made his way out of the room leaving Harry blushing and on the verge of shock and his mother smiling. 

“I’ve forgotten that my son doesn’t ever wait around when he wants something. Now, back to the estates…”

The Seer was in a dark room that was tastefully decorated, if a bit too dim for Harry’s taste. He sat down on the settee next to Draco, the only available spot for him to sit, and watched the old woman from across the room. She made her way to them before leaning down and looking each one in the eyes. Her eyes were pure gold with no scleras or pupils. Just solid gold. 

When she spoke, it sounded like her voice had been layered twice. 

“You are both difficult to love. Your hearts and souls are guarded, but with each other they are open and willing. Heed my warning: together you will be the happiest you could possibly imagine but separated you will only suffer.” She paused and held out her hand while turning to Draco. “Scroll.” He handed it over and she opened it before placing her palm in the middle of it. A white flash covered the parchment and she handed it back, her eyes less dim but no less enchanting to look at. 

“Farewell, young ones.”

They exited the room, both gathering their thoughts after the bizarre experience. Neither one of them spoke about it as they met Draco’s parents to go back home. 

Harry hadn’t expected Narcissa to come knocking on their door, nor did he expect her to barge right in past her son when he opened the door to start tossing clothes on Harry. 

“Time to get dressed, you and I have much to discuss! Draco, your father expected you an hour ago. You’d best be going now.”

“Wha-an hour ago? Since when did he expect me to know that?”

“Well I’ve just told you, get going! You too Harry, we’ve much to talk about and no time to waste! Knowing Draco’s father, he’ll have Draco’s marriage contract offer written by sundown and Merlin knows that man isn’t very patient.” Harry started scrambling to clothe himself but froze at her words. 

“Wait, that’s what we’re doing today?” She waved his concern off and turned to preserve his modesty while he tossed clothes on to cover himself. 

“He’ll have it written and likely submitted to you today. But I’d like to be prepared with our own version so we can compare.” Deciding to drop it for now, Harry finished dressing and followed her downstairs to her parlour where tea and a light breakfast sat on her desk. Parchments were spread out around the plates. 

“Now,” she sat down and motioned for him to do the same. “Time to get down to business. And please remember you can change your mind later and this isn’t binding. You can decide to say no later on. That being said, what are some things that you consider non-negotiable for your partner? No matter who that partner is?”

That was a hard question for Harry in some aspects and not in others. On the one hand, he absolutely didn’t want his spouse to cheat on him but on the other hand he didn’t want to be tied to having a specific amount of children or have a requirement on how often they’d have sex. When he voiced his concerns about it all, she put her quill down. 

“We all have those fears at your age. Personally, I think a fidelity clause is a good idea. And being told how often you have to have sex is rather daunting, especially as you age. Was there anything else you’re concerned about?”

“I-I don’t really know.” Honestly he had no idea what to expect that contract to contain. So they spent the morning and early part of the afternoon discussing what could be included and what’s commonly included. By the time afternoon tea came around, Harry was more confident in the things he wanted but was still unsure how to ask for them. 

“You leave the language up to me, I’ll find a way to word it without offending anyone.” That cheered him up and gave him some confidence. 

“Then the fidelity clause, I can’t stand the thought of someone leaving behind my back to get off with someone else. And a privacy clause for the press, the last thing I need is my sex life advertised to the papers.” She started writing and he continued on. “I don’t want a restriction on kids, I want to choose that on my own. I might not ever be ready to have a child-that’s not a good environment to grow up in.”

“You’ll meet resistance with that one from Lucius.”

“I don’t care. I refuse to be told I’m going to have a child if I’m not the one making that choice.” She clearly saw the resolve he had in his eyes and smiled at him before motioning for him to continue. “I guess I don’t know enough to be able to say about the finances and estates and stuff. What do you suggest?” She seemed surprised that he had asked her opinion but she gave it nonetheless. 

“When you’re dealing with family wealth the size of the Potter and Malfoy accounts then it’s typically recommended that each is kept separate and managed by accountants. You’ll be expected to review the financial reports but most only check quarterly and yearly. Lucius checks his every quarter but Draco’s been telling him for years it would make more sense to review them monthly. Less work if you do them monthly. I think he just was upset that accounting days took up all of his attention and didn’t leave any time for him to play with Draco.”

“They used to play?”

“Goodness, yes! Draco was incredibly active as a little boy and absolutely loved spending time with his father. I know he can seem cold at times, but he’s much more open at home with family and those that won’t judge him for showing emotions.” Harry could practically see it, Draco playing with his father in the study. The image brought a smile to his face.


	11. Chapter 11

Draco’s contract was rather intense, in Harry’s opinion. Narcissa had taken the stack of parchment and started crossing out entire pages. 

“Oh don’t worry dear. This is all about children and how to treat them, which ones will be heir to which fortunes, how many and when. Since you don’t want to be controlled over that, I’m taking the liberty of crossing it all out.”

“Wait!” She paused. “I want it in there somewhere that under no circumstances are any possible children to be punished physically, by food or water being withheld or by being stowed away in small spaces for misbehaving.” She gave him an odd look but nonetheless wrote it in with the word ‘nonnegotiable’ next to it to drive the point home. She’d done that with the fidelity clause as well. 

Only an hour later and they had a compromised contract drawn up and given back to the boys on the other side of the manor. Draco had agreed to it before dinner, much to Lucius’s displeasure. 

The four ate in the dining room, although it was eerily a quiet affair. Only the sound of silverware clinking on china or the occasional sound of glasses being refilled could be heard. Harry could practically taste the icy atmosphere coming off of Lucius in waves. Apparently Narcissa could as well. 

She placed her wine glass down incredibly softly, giving her husband a sweet smile as she did so. In a dangerously sweet and soft voice, she asked “May I ask what’s bothering you so that you’re ruining dinner?” Draco swallowed his mouthful of food, all colour gone from his face. 

“Nothing dearest,” Lucius spat. 

“Oh but I insist you tell me. It must be bothering you something terrible for you to be grinding your teeth at the table.”

“I’m merely disappointed in how easily our son caves to negotiations. I would have thought the Malfoy name was better than that.” Narcissa didn’t even have a chance to reply before Draco had stood. 

“For the final time Father, negotiations are to bring two sides to a compromise of which both can live with. I have no problems negotiating. I’m much happier with the contract I agreed to than the one I sent this morning. Now if you don’t mind, I have some things to attend to. Goodnight.” Draco got up to leave and Harry was quick to follow suit. He hadn’t even left the dining room before Narcissa was lashing into Lucius about always needing to have more control than necessary. 

He didn’t stick around to find out more. 

The two avoided talking about the contracts, determined to simply enjoy each other’s company. Draco took pleasure in spoiling Harry rotten with surprise packages of sweets and small trinkets while Harry learned to accept them. 

While the two were sorely tempted to do more than just kiss each other, they didn’t particularly enjoy their classes. It was NEWT year and that meant their teachers were piling on more work than ever before. By the time their NEWT tests were over, all the seventh years were exhausted and simply spent the day after their last final sleeping in and lounging about. Harry and Draco spent that day lying in the grass by the lake, simply enjoying the sun and each other’s company. 

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that the contracts had been brought up again. 

“Draco, about the contracts…”

“What about them?” Harry’s head lay in Draco’s lap with Draco’s fingers carding through his hair. 

“What happens if we don’t want to go the full amount of time allotted? I know ours said two years but what happens if we decide we don’t need the full two years?” Harry had to admit, he knew Draco was surprised by what he said, but the hand in his hair never faltered.

“I’ve never seen it done. There’s no rule against it but most purebloods try to make it as long as possible so they can keep themselves available for better opportunities. Personally, I’m not interested in anyone else. What brought this on?”

“I’m pretty sure because I’m still at school there’s some sort of law preventing a mass amount of contract proposals to me. I’ll admit, I’m a bit afraid of the insanity that will ensue after we leave Hogwarts. I’m not blind, I’ve seen the articles on the how-tos for sending ‘Harry Potter, the Most Eligible Wizard Alive’ a contract. I’ll be honest, I’m dreading it and I don’t really want anyone else.”

“You’re not using this as a way to skive off being famous are you?”

“A bit. But there are more important reasons why I don’t need the full two years.” He could hear Draco smirking, he just knew it. 

“And what are those reasons?” Harry sat up and smiled at the blond. 

“Because I’ve fallen in love with you and I didn’t need two bloody years to figure it out.” Draco, at a loss for words, simply kissed him. 

“You realize Mother will insist on being the wedding organizer?” Harry nodded. “She’ll bother us day and night about colours, designs, flowers, guests, invitations, napkins, food selections, music, art, locations-”

“Yes, yes, I know all that!” Harry interrupted. “Trust me, I know. But I hope that you know I will have Hermione helping her so I can’t be overruled by you two.” Draco laughed at that and agreed. Hermione would be good for his mother to be around; she was sensible and wouldn’t let all the frills be too much for them. She’d find ways to add more masculine details that his mother wouldn’t think of. 

The wedding didn’t take place until December of the following year. Harry had spent months renovating the property his parents had lived in the first few months of their marriage before they had to move to Godric’s Hollow to go into hiding and then Narcissa and Hermione spent the next year planning for their wedding to take place on the property. 

Neville had been hired to take care of the landscaping, and Harry had laughed for weeks after Narcissa had changed her mind about the flowers she wanted growing outside of the french doors that lead to the patio in the back for the third time in a week. Neville had been so frustrated with her, he started shouting at her to make up her bloody mind before telling him what she wanted because he wasn’t going to be uprooting a single plant after that day. 

The two had been more than happy when the wedding day started without any problems. It wasn’t until just after Harry had gotten dressed that things started to crumble. Harry had spotted Ron. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Oh, hi Harry! I heard you were getting married and figured my invite got lost in the post so here I am!”

“Ron you weren’t invited. You need to leave.” Ron’s face went from bright and cheerful to dark and scary. 

“You’ll let me stay. I’m your only friend, aren’t I?” Ice and dread spread through Harry like the plague. 

It was Lucius that had rescued Harry, much to his surprise. 

“Mr. Weasley, I presume you are aware that all guests must have their invitations on their person?” Ron gave him the same spiel he had just given Harry. “Perhaps you have forgotten to whom I am married. I happen to have the entire guest list memorized because of Narcissa’s obsessive planning and I know for a fact that you were not on that list. Now remove yourself from my property or I will have you arrested for trespassing.” Ron paled and left quickly, but the damage had already been done. 

Harry was found in a complete state of panic, sitting in a corner with his arms around his legs and his forehead resting on his knees. The poor thing was shaking and Lucius wasn’t sure what to do but he knew he’d better do something or Cissa would have his balls on a platinum platter. 

He placed a hand on Harry’s back gently but firmly, holding out a handkerchief so Harry could wipe his eyes. He did so, but he was still shaking. 

“While this may sound harsh, and forgive me if it does, but whatever hold you believe he has over you is an illusion. You know just as well as I do that no one invited him here. While he may think he can get his hands on you again, I simply won’t allow it. Draco would never allow it. In becoming a part of our family, you inherit the protections our family can provide you; that includes against Mr. Weasley.” Lucius reached into an inner pocket in his robes and pulled out a small box wrapped in silver and black paper. 

“An early wedding gift. It’s been in the family for generations but I had it embedded with the strongest magic he could find. It will heat against your skin when people who mean you ill will are near and will cast some very impressive shields if someone sends a curse or jinx towards you. And while he thinks I’m unaware of this, Draco also had a master charmsmith add a crafty piece of magic to ensure that anyone trying to hit you will be thrown several feet from you. As long as you are wearing it, you will be safe.” He watched as Harry opened the gift with unsteady hands, although the shaking had reduced significantly. 

He could see the exact moment that Harry’s hand made contact with the silver chain because his entire being sagged in relief. The tension visibly left him and suddenly Lucius was being pierced by pools of emerald. 

“Thank you.” He smiled, a rare occurrence when people other than his family might see and helped Harry stand so he could give him a hug. He laughed when he saw Harry’s shocked expression. 

“Come now, I’m not completely a coldhearted bastard. Only my family gets to see my nicer side. Now, on with the chain and we’ll get you cleaned up.” A mild healing spell later to make Harry’s face presentable once and the two made their way to Harry’s wedding. 

It was over far too soon. Narcissa had escorted Harry down the aisle while Lucius stood behind his son. The young couple made their way through their vows with Draco’s voice threatening to crack with sincerity and Harry’s wavering from the happy tears spilling down his cheeks. 

They spent the entire evening with friends and family. The politicians had left shortly after the reception meal as apparently mornings were most important at the ministry. Draco’s parents had invited most everyone in their family tree, most of which Draco had met while visiting their France properties but didn’t know that well. Harry had invited a few friends but mostly spent the entire evening with Draco. There were too many introductions to keep track of and even more handshakes to be had. Congratulations flowed like a river and as the night went on Harry got better and better at accepting them. 

Needless to say, the two were utterly exhausted when the night ended somewhere in the early hours of the next day. Narcissa produced a portkey for the two and with many smiles, the two were off to their honeymoon. 

They had practically collapsed against each other when they landed, but with a dose of pepperup potion each they were in much better control of their limbs. In fact, if the heated looks Draco was throwing his way was any indication, they wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon.

“Draco?” The man in question was walking towards him and he was slowly backing up-only to be stopped by a bed. He wasn’t afraid of Draco, but he did feel a strange sort of nervousness as he neared. 

Before he could stop it, their lips connected in an explosion of sensation and Harry practically melted into the arms holding him up. Gentle hands caressed his face as Draco’s tongue slid against his lips asking for entrance. He allowed it without a second thought and lost himself in a wave of sensation. 

Draco had peeled off his clothes slowly, trailing behind every piece with kisses and small nips here and there. He was learning Harry’s body like he was worshipping it-and that’s exactly how Harry felt. He felt worshipped, loved beyond words. 

Draco hadn’t hesitated when his chest was bare and sunk to his knees after pushing Harry to sit on the bed. The shoes came off with the same attention and care as everything else, shocking Harry with how sinfully good it felt to have someone do those things to his feet of all things. His trousers followed and Harry had to lay down with his legs hanging over the side of the bed or he’d surely pass out from the overwhelming sensations. 

It wasn’t until something warm and wet licked his member from base to tip and he keened when that delicious sensation moved to his sack before his dick truly got to appreciate it.

Much to Harry’s surprise, and pleasure, Draco spent a great amount of time licking and prodding his arse until he wasn’t sure what his name even was. That was when Draco leaned over and kissed Harry breathless while inserting a finger. 

It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t nice either. Just weird. Nothing had ever gone in that direction before and he wasn’t sure what to think about it. That is, until Draco started moving his finger in and out. 

Lube, it turns out, was Harry’s newest favourite thing. 

It made everything so much slicker and easier for Draco’s fingers to slide in and out of him at a much more acceptable pace than the incredibly slow movements that the blond had been subjecting him to. He was staring up at his husband, nerves making him shake in pleasure, and all he wanted was more.

It was the single best feeling he had ever felt when Draco slid into him. Sure, it burned and wasn’t at all the slight twinge he had felt at first. But Draco was gentle and took his time, something that Harry greatly appreciated now. Slow thrusts gently rocked him in just a little bit at a time until he was finally sheathed in Harry completely. The two moaned and lost themselves in the sensations, both practically screaming when Harry’s prostate had been hit and then again when they came. 

Harry had fallen asleep almost immediately after Draco slid out of him, worn out after the incredibly long day and even better lovemaking. He smiled and shifted off of him, happy to hold the brunet close as he drifted off to sleep with his husband. He knew there would probably be arguments in the future-and from their history they’d probably be tame compared to what he’d seen his parents to be capable of. But he also knew he would do anything for the one in his arms. Whatever problems they would encounter, whatever issues they may come across, the two would be able to work through them together.


End file.
